


What Lurks out of Sight

by Within_Imagination



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Angst, Blood, F/M, Frightening Imagery, Gore, Horror, M/M, Mentions of alcohol, Mystery, Not A Happy Ending, Nothing too much worse than Acid Tokyo, Some Cursing, Tsubasa World Chronicle timeline, Violence, not safe for newbies/nick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26033608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Within_Imagination/pseuds/Within_Imagination
Summary: “Fai’s left hand slid across the smooth stone of the wall, while his right waved away a cobweb. He wasn’t sure where he was, or how long he’d been going up the dark, stone staircase, but he was sure that what he was looking for would be at the top.”Tsubasa World Chronicle timeline: When the group finds themselves transported to a new world inhabited by peaceful livestock-herders, they believe that their next few months will be rather quiet surrounded by the serene landscapes of the beautiful countryside. However, despite how friendly the villagers may be, they seem to harbor a great deal of superstition and fear regarding a forest to the south; and soon enough the world-travelers discover that their time there may, in fact, not be quite as tranquil as they’d hoped…
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane, Sakura | Tsubasa/Syaoran | Li Tsubasa
Comments: 15
Kudos: 32
Collections: 2020 KuroFai Olympics - Fluff vs Angst





	1. Opening Notes

** Name Pronunciation guide: **

(easy pronunciations, not spelled using phonetic symbols)

Eallachstead: Ah-lox-stead

Harti: Har-tee

Gerda: Ger-duh

Kartha: Car-tha

Jorkjun: York-yun

Gunmer: Gun-mer

Henrich: Hen-reek

Belisa: Bell-ees-ah

Yorgun: Yor-goon

Betrund: Bay-troon-d

** WARNING: **

The following story is rated T for “Teen” as it contains some strong language,

a few scenes of gore, elements of horror, and some frightening imagery.

Please be advised in case any of these things happen to upset you.

** Opening Notes: **

  1. This story was beta-read by the wonderful Sailor_Palaven! Thank you so much for improving my story with your thoughtful suggestions!
  2. This story is a horror creature-feature, so there will be depictions of violence, gore, and frightening imagery based on the creature. Similar to my previous story, however, this is more of a “Quiet Horror”— aka, more suspenseful. However, this story does contain quite a bit more violence than my previous story, so please be advised.
  3. Sakura is only briefly included in this story. (My apologies, Sakura fans!)
  4. The villagers are written as having thick accents, which in my head sound like Irish accents, but you can interpret them as you will. Both the world and village are fictional.
  5. Mokona’s pronouns in this story are they/them. I believe that Tsubasa’s Mokona is female, but I don’t believe it has ever been overtly stated by CLAMP themselves. (Please, let me know if I’m wrong!)
  6. I switch between using and not using Japanese honorifics often at the end of names (this includes “–kun,” “-chan,” “–san,” etc). This is the same with Japanese and English words/phrases, such as interchanging “manjuu” with “pork bun” every once in a while.



(I realize this is an inconsistent way of writing, but I have become fond of it over the years. It has simply become part of my writing style.)

  1. There is mention of other Tsubasa Chronicle characters as well as the overall plot of both Tsubasa Chronicle and World Chronicle, so there will be spoilers if you haven’t read those before (and you may also be somewhat confused by the story if you have not read them).
  2. I love to use “— ” (dashes) and “…” (ellipsis) in my writing, so you will be seeing a great deal of those.
  3. This was written for the 2020 KuroFai Olympics (Team: Angst; Prompt: Mythological Creatures), so please feel free to vote before September 18th, 2020, using the official Google form:



<https://forms.gle/FLNVYFdMuLfraGkKA>


	2. Part I

Fai’s left hand slid across the smooth stone of the wall, while his right waved away a cobweb. He wasn’t sure where he was, or how long he’d been going up the dark, stone staircase, but he was sure that what he was looking for would be at the top.

It was somewhat frightening, walking up those stairs. He was almost certain that the sights he was seeing must have been similar to what his brother must have seen during his last few moments of freedom, before they threw him into the room at the very top of the tower and locked the door, never to return again. The thought made him recoil, but also spurred his determination to reach the top. Maybe… maybe his brother was there. Maybe he was waiting for him—calling his name ever so softly.

_Yuui… Yuui…_ the magician heard, even through the thick blanket of silence that hung over the decrepit staircase he was ascending.

There, a light! At last, Fai had reached the top. There was an old wooden door—open, with the doorway beckoning him to come forward. The mage hurried towards it, but stopped in his tracks. A figure stood within the doorway, suddenly blocking the light. It stood tall, eyes boring into his soul like embers, and Fai shrank back.

It was _not_ his brother.

…

Fai awoke with a start. Feeling a hand on his right arm, he jumped slightly, gasping.

“Take it easy, mage,” Kurogane whispered, eager not to wake the young man sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room. “You were having a nightmare, I think. You kept calling for your brother…”

The blonde breathed deeply as he grounded himself, staring into glistening crimson eyes that were still slightly unfocused from sleep, but also full of worry and reassurance for his sake.

“I—I think I remember, yes. I think I was dreaming about the tower again.”

The ninja shifted a bit, hauling the mage gently into his arms as they lay side by side. The movement caused the old bed to creak and moan for a moment, but luckily the other residents of the room remained unaware. Fai relaxed in his arms, snuggling closer.

No more words were exchanged. None needed to be. They had both played out that conversation more times than they could count—after Fai had nightmares about Valeria, or Kurogane about his parent’s deaths. It almost always ended the same, with the quiet strength of their bond shooing away any negative thoughts from their nightmares. Each time they would think, “This is it. This is the last time I’m going to have to relive that again. Things are better now, and I’m happy. There couldn’t possibly be any reason for me to dwell on the past anymore.”

But they were always wrong. No matter what, the nightmares always returned, sometimes with more of a vengeance than either man was prepared for. However, there was also one other thing they could always count on whenever a nightmare struck: each other. They were both each other’s pillar of strength, their foothold back into the real world and their anchor when they got there. And that was exactly what Kurogane was being for Fai as they lay there. The mage needed a solid presence of warmth to ground himself again, to ensure that what happened was over and done, and Kurogane was happy to oblige.

Their time was cut short, however, when they noticed a pale sliver of sunlight peeking into the room from between the drawn curtains. Outside rang the crow of a distant rooster, signaling the start of a new day. Their roommates in the other bed sat up, the young man blearily rubbing his eyes while the small white being rolled onto the floor with a soft _thud_. The young man was wide awake in an instant.

“Oh my gosh! Mokona! I’m so sorry!” Syaoran said, rushing to pick his tiny companion up.

Before he could do so, however, the little ball hopped up and landed in his hands.

“Surprise! Mokona was already awake!” they yipped happily. “Mokona was making sure Syaoran got up on time today! Are you awake now, Syaoran?”

The young man looked shocked at first, then his expression fell into a soft smile and he shook his head, placing his companion on the bedside dresser and standing up.

“Thank you, Mokona,” he replied, stretching his arms above his head. “I’m not sleeping in today thanks to your help.”

Mokona beamed up at him as he turned to face the couple in the other bed. Fai and Kurogane were already getting out of bed, the former yawning with a slightly over-exaggerated stretch of his arms, while the latter rubbed a hand over his face. Both of them were a bit suspicious that Mokona had overheard Fai’s nightmare, but neither of them pressed the issue. Mokona was a trusted friend and ally, and knew just as well as Syaoran how bad dreams can get.

“Did you both sleep well?” Syaoran asked, grabbing a nearby shirt to change into.

“As well as usual in this place,” Fai replied, flailing his arms dramatically. “They work us to the bone all day long here, and wake us at the crack of dawn!”

Kurogane playfully punched his upper arm as he passed the blonde to grab the bucket next to the door. “You work at the baker’s, you lazy mage. Why don’t you try one of our jobs today?”

“And spend all day pounding away at metal with a hammer or running around farms until I collapse?” Fai gasped, flopping back onto the bed flamboyantly. “I’d rather die here and now!”

Syaoran laughed and shook his head at the mage’s antics, used to his theatrics by now.

“You know what?” Kurogane said with a smirk. “Just for that, _you’re_ going to be the one getting water from the well today.”

The ninja chucked the bucket into Fai’s lap, grinning as the blonde sputtered in shock

“What—but—so early!” Fai whined, holding the bucket out in desperation.

“That’s right,” Kurogane replied, relaxing in one of the chairs at the nearby table. “And the kid and I both have very demanding jobs to do today, now don’t we? It would be such a shame if this left arm of mine were to get a little creaky drawing water from the well, and I weren’t able to earn my keep from the blacksmith...”

Fai glared daggers at the larger man, slightly miffed while also being incredibly charmed by his boldness.

“It’s fine, Fai-san,” Syaoran chuckled, reaching out to take the bucket. “I’ll get it.”

“No, no! I’ll get it!” the mage replied, grinning evilly as he held the bucket out of Syaoran’s reach. “I’ll be right back with our water, _Kuro-sama_.”

After placing a great deal of emphasis on those last few syllables, Fai bounced out of the room in glee. Syaoran stared blankly at the now open doorway for a moment, then turned to Kurogane.

“You… know he’s up to something right?”

“Up to something! Definitely up to something!” Mokona cheered. “And Mokona’s going to find out!”

As the tiny ball of white hopped out of the room after the blonde, Kurogane crossed his arms.

“Yeah, yeah, but he’s always up to something. What’s the harm in having him go and get a little water?”

“I have a feeling he’s going to make you eat those words, Kurogane-san…” Syaoran said with a mischievous smile.

“Yeah, well, the first thing I want to eat is something for breakfast. I’ll go see what Harti’s cooked up today.”

With that, the ninja was out the door, too, leaving Syaoran alone in the room to prepare for the day.

A little over a month ago, the four travelers had landed in a small village known as Eallachstead, renowned for its award-winning cattle and sheep. It was a quaint little town filled with cobblestone paths and candlelit lampposts and awe-inspiring landscapes surrounding it. People from all over would come to trade for this town’s livestock, despite the harsh mountains surrounding it to the north and the complex forest encroaching upon its southern borders.

Because of this the town was almost always a prosperous hub of activity, and hardly anyone gave any thought to the fact that four travelers had arrived out of nowhere with nothing but the strange, foreign clothes on their backs and some unique items to trade for money. People often came there to try to get rich, but most didn’t stay for too long. When Fai had asked the kindly innkeeper, Harti—a stout woman who also ran the tavern on the first floor—why no one stayed long, she had simply responded that they were frightened off. She avoided saying more on the matter, instead patting the mage heartily on the back and offering him a mug of ale as well as advice to stay out of the forest _at all costs_. After receiving some worried looks from nearby patrons at the tavern, the group dared not bring up the subject again.

However, they soon began to take notice of why others may have been frightened off. The villagers seemed to be rather superstitious folk, believing in things that others would find extremely dreadful. Syaoran recalled an instance where he had dared to ask one of the farmers why no one entered the forest when the wood from the trees would be excellent at rebuilding some of the badly maintained barns and sheds.

The farmer had responded, in a manner of heightened concern, “The trees be alive, boy, and don’t ye ferget it! They see things and judge ‘em, twisting and turning a person to be somethin’ they’re not! There are things out there, and ye cannae speak of ‘em e’en at the best of times!”

Syaoran didn’t ask him to elaborate further. Whatever it was that was in that forest, no one wanted to speak of it. They simply locked their doors and windows at night, ensured every animal was safely stowed away, and extinguished any source of light after the nightly bell was rung.

However, their superstition wasn’t always a bad thing. Indeed, it was actually their superstition that allowed Mokona to act normally in the village and not have to hide. The villagers believed the tiny white immortal to be a pixie from the tales of old. It would seem that in ancient days, pixies used to inhabit the mountainous regions above the village; and even though it was never recorded that anyone had actually seen one, the tale was still passed down from generation to generation until it was simply believed to be true. Mokona had been the talk of the town when the group had first arrived.

As soon as the excitement had died down, and the group was situated in Harti’s inn with what little money they had been able to make from their trading, they each set out to look for jobs. Fai’s first stop was the schoolhouse, eager to see if his services could be used as an assistant; but the headmistress of the little building, Gerda, refused his offer wholeheartedly, effectively banning him from the schoolhouse. As he sat rather dejectedly in the schoolyard, Fai noticed a woman handing out cakes and sweets to the children.

“Don’t let that Gerda dishearten ye, lad,” she said, having overheard his rejection. “Ev’ryone keeps telling ‘er that she’s too young to be such a stick in the mud, but she’ll nae hear it. If you’re interested, though, I be looking for an assistant meself. Keepin’ ev’rything afloat at the bakery since me husband passed ‘way is getting to be too much fer this old soul.”

Fai soon discovered that the woman’s name was Kartha, a recently-widowed baker who enjoyed making bread as much as she enjoyed handing out sweets to the local children, since she had no children of her own to give them to. She owned the only bakery in the village, and Fai had been more than happy to accept her offer to help keep it running.

Meanwhile, Kurogane had stopped by the blacksmith’s shop to admire the craftsmanship of the blades, and was surprised to find a lumbering hulk of a man even bigger than himself fanning a nearby smelter. His name was Jorkjun, and when Kurogane had asked if he required any assistance crafting or repairing weapons, the man had originally balked, claiming that no one knew how to handle a sword like he did. After a few days of the same request from the ninja, however, Jorkjun finally gave in. Running a hand through his long black beard, he threw a pile of bundled up swords into Kurogane’s lap and told him to polish them, and if he did a good enough job he may have more work for him to do. One month later saw the ninja still there, handling every project Jorkjun dished out to him, so Kurogane assumed that he had done a good enough job.

Syaoran had a bit rougher of a time, however, since Mokona became his constant companion. They had apparently caused trouble at both Fai and Kurogane’s jobs, having eaten too many sweets when staying with the former and nearly been ground into jelly when accidentally resting on the workbench of the latter’s workplace. With Syaoran, they at least couldn’t get into much trouble, but they were catching the attention of anyone and everyone Syaoran had attempted to request a job from. After a week of not having found any source of revenue, Syaoran finally caught a break when he saw an old man struggling to pour slop into a pig pen. Not thinking much of it, Syaoran rushed over and helped the old man pour it in, but just as he was about to head back on his way, the old man asked if he’d like to also help him collect the eggs from his chicken coop for a small sum of gold. Syaoran had happily obliged, and soon everyone around the village knew that if they needed any extra help around their farms they could simply ask the young man with the pixie on his shoulder.

Now all four travelers were living comfortably in one of Harti’s rooms, spending their days at work and their nights in the tavern and their room. It was rather old-fashioned, and difficult at times such as with having to retrieve well water to wash their faces every morning, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves and almost hoping that they wouldn’t have to move on to the next world too quickly.

By the time Syaoran had gotten dressed and ready for the day, eager to wash his face once Fai returned with the water, Kurogane had brought up a tray of bread, butter, oatmeal, and fruit.

“Harti said that she sweetened the oatmeal just for you, so you’d better enjoy it,” he huffed, pushing the sweetened hot oats far away from him.

Syaoran laughed and picked up a spoon, grabbing a piece of fruit as well. “I’m sure it will be just as good as always—”

The brunette abruptly cut himself off as a large pool of water suddenly appeared above Kurogane’s head, soaking the stunned ninja—as well as the half-eaten piece of bread in his hand—in an instant. Syaoran knew what happened straight away when he felt not a single drop hit him, and saw that the water hadn’t touched any other surface. The table, food, and floor were all perfectly fine; only Kurogane himself and a bit of his chair were soaked in water.

The mage stepped into the room carrying a bucket full of water, a smug-looking Mokona resting atop his head.

“Well, there you are, Kuro-dearest! I’ve brought the water for today! I hope you enjoyed your shower; I mean, you were really in desperate need of one anyway, right Syaoran?”

The boy cleverly chose to remain silent and munched on his oatmeal, his shoulders subtly shaking as he tried his very best not to laugh at the current situation.

Kurogane slowly set down his soggy piece of bread and turned to face the blonde, who was simply beaming at him with the biggest smile.

“Well, how about that, kid,” he said, splashing a bit of water from his hands in Fai’s direction. “I think the mage just volunteered to go and get the well-water _every_ morning.”

…

The day went by much like any other, and before the four companions even knew it they were back at the inn enjoying their evening meal in their room. Usually their evenings would be spent in the tavern downstairs, but it seemed to be packed to the brim after the arrival of the latest caravan to the town. Uproarious laughter, drunken singing, and the strings of a bard’s lute could be heard echoing off the walls, and the four chose to continue their dining experience in the relative peace upstairs instead.

“So, you’ll never guess what Miss Kartha asked of me today!” Fai said in between bites of stew.

“Has to be better than the smith forcing me to scrub that forge of his until it glistened…”

Syaoran shot a look of sympathy in Kurogane’s direction while Fai patted his arm, amazed by the small black cloud that floated up from it.

“So _that’s_ where all this soot came from! I guess I should have saved your shower for tonight now shouldn’t I have, Kuro-smoke?”

“Try it again, mage… You just try it again…”

“So, what did she ask you to do?” Syaoran asked, returning to the previous subject.

“Ah, that’s right!” Fai continued. “She wants me to start making pixie-shaped cookies! And, of course, by ‘pixie-shaped’ what she really means in ‘Mokona-shaped’.”

Mokona hopped into Fai’s lap. “But Mokona isn’t a pixie! Everyone only thinks Mokona is a pixie because they’ve never seen one!”

Syaoran shook his head in agreement. “I’m a little worried about that, to be honest. I mean, people have even started drawing Mokona so that they can show their grandchildren and great-grandchildren what a pixie looks like. Even after we’re gone, hundreds of years from now, people will still associate Mokona’s shape as that of a pixie…”

The room fell silent for a moment, everyone taking into account the fact that yet another world had been forever changed due to their travels.

“Well, at least it’s nothing quite as drastic as what’s happened in some of the other worlds we’ve traversed,” Fai commented softly, setting down his bowl to lean heavily against Kurogane’s side. “Besides, maybe once we’re gone people won’t remember. Maybe pixies will fade into obscurity again and no one will know what they look like.”

“That’s another curiosity to me,” Syaoran replied. “Why would a society believe so heavily in something that most likely doesn’t exist? I mean, I guess to the townsfolk here technically pixies exist, even if only in memory, but still… What could make them so superstitious that they only have wood imported when they could just take it from the trees just to the south?”

“True! True! It must be something even greater than pixies!” Mokona agreed, hopping over to Kurogane’s lap as Fai snuggled deeper into his side.

“You’re going to get dirty,” he warned the mage, even as he wrapped an arm around the blonde himself.

“Do I look like I care, Kuro-soot?” Fai blinked up at him with a smile before settling once more.

Kurogane shrugged and looked back towards the brunette on the other side of the table.

“Sometimes, even imaginary creatures can be so heavily ingrained in a society’s culture that they’re believed to be real. They’re revered regardless due to their influence over people, especially if that influence comes from fear or power.

“Take my country, for example. In Nihon, we believe in huge, scaled sky-beasts called ‘dragons’ that represent strength and wisdom. It’s said that in ancient times, they protected the land of Nihon from all manner of demons with their fiery breath, but not a single sighting has even been recorded in all of history. There are even some mountains that are considered sacred and are off limits because they’re believed to be where dragons nest.”

“Just like the forest in this world…” Fai mused.

“Ooh, ooh, Mokona gets it! It’s just like in Watanuki’s Japan! There, everyone believes in this great, big, hairy thing that lives in the woods called Bigfoot!”

“Big…?”

“…Foot?”

Mokona nodded vehemently at Fai and Syaoran’s inquiries.

“There are even entire TV shows dedicated to rooting it out and catching it! People really, really believe in it, but it’s never been officially sighted, not even around all the cameras!”

Everyone stared at their tiny companion in disbelief.

“Wow…” Kurogane finally uttered. “So the rest of that world is just as crazy as the shop is…”

Fai glared his disapproval at the ninja’s rudeness, but his smile stated what he was really thinking. Syaoran looked on thoughtfully, seeming to be reflecting quite heavily on something.

“I suppose it’s not unlike archeology,” he stated. “We’re always digging things up, trying to uncover what remains hidden even if no one remembers it. I have come across murals sometimes that display some pretty odd creatures, so I guess it’s not too hard to think that at one point there might have been a good reason to believe in such things and pass down their stories for generations, even if they’ve gone extinct.”

The boy turned towards his long-haired friend who was still leaning against his partner. “What about you, Fai-san? Do you remember any stories like that from Cel-”

Syaoran instantly cut himself off, for the second time that very day, when he realized just how harsh that must sound to Fai now that Celes no longer exists, but Fai was quick to console him.

“It’s quite all right, Syaoran-kun,” he comforted. “I know that you meant no ill-will. I truly don’t even mind talking about Celes. It’s good to keep cultures alive even when there are no original residents left to talk about them. Now, then, let’s see…”

Fai sat deep in thought for a moment, as if trying to recall a memory from a hundred years ago. Of course, for all Kurogane knew, it could have been a hundred years ago due to the mage’s magical lengthened lifespan.

“Ah! I’ve just remembered!” the blonde perked up, snapping his fingers. “There was one story that was pretty similar. A long time ago, when Ashura first brought me to Celes, some of the castle guard warned me to never venture up the mountain path alone—and especially not at night. They said that a specter called the ‘Frigid Madame’ haunts the path and steals away unsuspecting travelers, freezing them in the cold, dark tundra with a wailing cry.”

Mokona shrank back into Syaoran’s lap as Fai continued.

“At first, this story frightened me, but as I grew older I discovered that no one had ever actually seen this specter; and it was then that I realized its true purpose: to keep curious children from wandering. No child would dare try to venture far from home if they thought a terrifying lady were waiting to snatch them away!”

Fai emphasized his last sentence by snatching Mokona from Syaoran’s lap unexpectedly. The white ball shrieked playfully.

“That was a scary story, Fai! How scary! Making children too scared to wander off sounds mean!”

“Quite mean, quite mean, indeed,” Fai agreed, setting Mokona back down. “But I’m sure my world isn’t the only world to use such tactics. And besides…”

Fai paused for a moment, as if hesitating about whether or not to speak the next sentence.

“Sometimes I would wonder about just how fantastical the story may be... On several occasions, I was part of a search and rescue up on that mountain path, using my magic to clear away ice and snow cliffs that blocked the way. More often than not, when a resident went missing, they were eventually found on the mountain path, no matter where they vanished from. And they were never found alive—always dead. Dead and completely frozen solid.”

Fai’s eyes seemed more distant the more he spoke on the matter, and Kurogane tightened his grip comfortably around the mage in an attempt to ground him again. Syaoran looked like he was about to say something, but he was hastily cut off by the sound of a loud bell outside ringing so suddenly and forcefully that all four of them jumped.

The boy rushed to the window just as the screams began. A large commotion seemed to be stirring in the streets—people were running amok, windows and doors were slamming shut, and rising above the noise a loud crier could be heard yelling, “The creature comes! The creature comes! Lock ev’rything up! To your safe houses! Run! The creature comes!”

The group only had a quick moment to exchange glances before Harti burst through their door. Fai stood immediately, mouth open to speak, but Harti beat him to it.

“There’s nae time—nae time!” the plump woman exclaimed as she rushed to grab Fai and Kurogane’s arm. “Come! You, too, boy! And the pixie! Ye must get downstairs! Now!”

All of them exited the room and began to descend the nearby stairs leading back down to the tavern, half-dragged by the distressed innkeeper. The tavern that had just moments before been filled with hearty merriment was now desolate and silent, with only a mess of food, drink, and coats as well as a few toppled chairs to signify anyone had recently been there.

“Now, wait just a minute,” Kurogane was finally able to stammer out as Harti directed them to a small staircase leading further down. “Just what the hell—”

Hushed voices rang from the cellar Harti had directed them into.

“Quiet!”

“Be ye daft?”

“Ye’ll get us all killed!”

Fai placed a hand on Kurogane’s arm, silently reassuring him that these things could be asked later. All of the patrons of the tavern, and everyone from the rooms upstairs, were cramped together in the small, dark cellar. Some were shaking, some praying, and others barely daring to breathe. The traders from the caravan looked just as perplexed as the world-travelers, but dared not speak up. The silence was almost deafening aside from a few hushed whimpers.

As soon as Harti was certain that everyone from her inn and tavern was accounted for, she closed the heavy door leading back upstairs, plunging the cellar into near complete darkness. The only light to be found anywhere in the room came from Harti’s small lantern as she desperately searched for something near the door. She let out a soft sigh of relief as she found what she needed, and lifted a thick, heavy-looking steel bolt to slide into bars attached to the door, effectively barring it should anything try to get inside. Kurogane recalled having worked on several such door bolts just last week for Jorkjun, and wondering what they could possibly be used for in such a seemingly quiet village. He had chalked it up to superstition back then, but he was beginning to feel otherwise when a nearby farmer began to weep softly.

“It’s been nigh months now since it’s come! I left me best cow in the pasture!”

“Hush, now, Enkin,” Harti soothed, trying her best to quiet him. “Ye can find another calf just as good.”

“It won’t do any good if ye’re dead, now HUSH,” another villager whispered frantically.

Almost immediately afterwards, a long, powerful _shriek_ pierced the air outside—almost like a scream without lungs. More whimpers emerged from all corners of the cellar, and some villagers even began holding their hands over their mouths to stifle their breathing. Fai looked around in the dim light, finding himself to be incredibly grateful that there were no children present, but also understanding that the situation wherever they were in the village couldn’t be much better.

That was the last thing any of the travelers were able to see that night as Harti then took a deep breath and extinguished the lantern she held, covering the entire room in a curtain of darkness. The remainder of the night was spent locked in that cramped cellar with at least three dozen other travelers and villagers, only able to listen to the loud sounds of carnage that came from whatever was right outside.

Syaoran found himself starting to question that night just how much he didn’t believe in superstition.

…

The next morning saw Kurogane bound and determined to figure out what the hell had happened, but he knew that the wellbeing of the townsfolk definitely came first.

Indeed, the first thing every person in that cellar did once Harti had unblocked the door was rush outside to check on how badly the village had been decimated, reeling when they saw just how much damage had been done. Debris of barrels and signs littered the streets, a child cried over the corpse of a dog, and the wooden walls of nearby farms and houses were covered in long, deep gashes that tore into the animal pens. Syaoran recalled having just collected eggs from a coop across the way from the inn, and now that coop lay empty with nothing but splotches of blood marring the doorway.

It was clear that it would take at least several weeks to get things started back up again and revenue fully flowing to the farmers, but at least it appeared there had been no loss of human life. One of the first things Fai noticed was the headmistress Gerda running around and counting the heads of all the children, sighing in relief as she found them all accounted for. Fai was also sighing in relief, knowing just how unruly some of the children could be, in particular two trouble-making boys who enjoyed causing havoc far past their bedtimes. He was reassured to see them both in with the crowd of children, however, and turned to face Kurogane.

“What on earth could possibly have done all of this? A demon?” Fai asked, trying his best not to bring up bad memories for his lover.

Kurogane’s eyes narrowed as he continued to survey the area.

“I don’t know,” he said as he took hold of Fai’s hand. “But if it is you’d better believe that I’m not going to let the same thing happen twice.”

Fai nodded, understanding that the ninja wasn’t about to lose another family to some fearsome creature.

“Fai-san! Kurogane-san!” Syaoran called.

The two unwove their fingers and made their way towards the brunette, who was talking with an elderly man. When they stood at Syaoran’s side, the man spoke.

“A pleasure to meet ye, young travelers. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to introduce myself to ye,” the old man croaked, his accent a bit less pronounced than others in the village. “My name is Gunmer, and I be the mayor of Eallachstead. Come, walk with me, now.”

Fai hesitated. “My apologies, but wouldn’t our services be better utilized in helping repair the village right now?”

The mayor slowed his pace, turning to face the travelers.

“This is nothing new,” he responded. “We face this ev’ry few months. We always try to pretend we’re ready when it happens, but we ne’er are, an’ it’s my job to ensure that ev’ryone who remains in this village knows what they’re in for.”

“Everyone who remains?” Kurogane asked, a frown marring his tanned features.

“Indeed,” the mayor responded as he began to walk once more “The trading caravan that just got here is already preparin’ to leave, but ye’ve been here nigh a month now, and show no signs of wantin’ to leave yourselves. Unless I’m mistaken?”

“No, no,” Fai assuaged, the entire group exchanging a knowing glance with one another. “We plan on staying for as long as we can.”

The mayor nodded to them and continued on his way, the travelers following him through the village. Already they saw signs of the townsfolk moving on to begin repairs. Women began using old rags, which seemed to have already been stained permanently red, to clean off blood from various surfaces around the town. Men were cleaning up the bodies of livestock scattered about, while the headmistress organized the children to begin collecting items from the streets, tossing anything that couldn’t be repaired into wagons on one side of the street and anything that could into wagons on the other.

When they arrived at Gunmer’s home, a large cabin in the middle of town beside the church, he directed them into his office where his wife was waiting.

“A pleasure to meet the newest residents,” she curtsied, nearly repeating her husband’s first words to them. “We hope this won’t frighten ye away from our little town. It happens only ev’ry few months, and we’re takin’ measures to handle it.”

“Measures?” Syaoran echoed.

“Perhaps it’s best I explain it to the lads, Gertrude,” the mayor commented. “If ye please.”

The elderly woman smiled and excused herself. “Of course, dear. Please, do help yeself to the tea. It should be cooled by now.”

There were three chairs set out in front of the mayor’s desk, and on top of said desk lay a beautifully ornate tea set. The mayor directed his guests to take a seat as he began pouring them each a cup of tea.

“My apologies, little pixie,” he said, addressing Mokona as he handed Syaoran a teacup. “I’m afraid we don’t have chairs your size.”

“That’s all right! Mokona will sit in Kuro-puu’s lap!” the small white manjuu replied, hopping their way to the aforementioned destination.

The ninja grumbled, but showed no intention of removing them. Rather, he was more occupied with trying to keep soot off of the mayor’s carpet, since he hadn’t yet had the chance to wash it off from yesterday.

“Ah, ye’ll have to forgive me, Kuro-puu, was it? I had thought your name was Kurogane…”

“IT IS,” the ninja responded, in a calm yet effective manner. “My name is _Kurogane_. Pixies just can’t pronounce my name in their language.”

Fai was having great difficulty stifling his laughter while Syaoran looked genuinely surprised at just how quickly the ninja was able to fabricate a reason behind the nickname.

“Ah, all right, then,” the mayor continued, handing a cup of tea to the blonde. “Then, you are Fai, and you are Syaoran, correct?”

The two nodded in turn when the mayor identified them.

“Well, as I said before, my name is Mayor Gunmer, and it’s been me pleasure to look after this village for the past twen’y years.”

“Twenty years? That’s quite a long time in office,” Syaoran wondered aloud.

Gunmer laughed heartily, “But of course! Mayors in Eallachstead stay as such until their deaths, unless the people don’t like ‘em!”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I think there’s a bit more of a pressing matter we have to talk about,” Kurogane interrupted, jarring Mokona as he crossed his legs.

“Of course, of course,” Gunmer responded, his jovial mood diminishing as he handed Kurogane a cup, as well. “Ye want to know about what took place last night?”

Kurogane nodded, not even trying to stop Mokona from claiming his tea.

“Yes,” Syaoran spoke up. “What exactly was out there tearing everything up? What was making such terrifying noises?

The mayor sat down and bent over his desk solemnly, folding his hands in front of himself.

“I believe it to be a man named Henrich, though he’s nae much of a man anymore,” Gunmer began slowly. “Henrich moved here to Eallachstead with his wife, Belisa—a fine young couple, they were. They came here to make their fortune as loggers. We tried to warn them that the forest is nae one to allow just any folk to cut down trees, and there may be consequences to pay if they did, but they didnae listen. Built a cabin a little ways inside the forest border, they did—about a day’s ride south of here. Henrich or Belisa would come to the village ev’ry now and then for supplies, though not often in the winters since the trek became much more perilous and lengthy during bad weather.

“Four summers ago was when things started goin’ awry. Whenever Henrich came into town, he would often complain that someone had damaged his carriage in some way—broken a wheel, cut the harness, that sort a’ thing. However, he and his wife were determined to stay in their little cottage, an’ begged me to find the culprit. I investigated all the townsfolk, and even a few naughty children, but nothin’ came of it. The culprit was ne’er found.

“That winter, however, I received a furious letter from Henrich, accusin’ someone in the village of having killed his horse. In the letter, he said that he was about to go into town for some supplies, but when he went to retrieve his horse from the stable he found it dead with a clean cut across the throat. His words got progressively angrier in the letter, which surprised me since the lad was such a mild-mannered fellow. It wasn’t like him to get so upset, but I supposed that after a summer of pranks and now this in the winter, he was likely gettin’ fed up.

“I trusted the courier with some supplies for the couple, but didnae dare send one of our good horses with him. I gave him a letter for Henrich statin’ that I would personally deliver another horse as soon as the weather turned, so he should have some gold ready for it. I also made sure to include that nary a single villager had been unaccounted for or made any trips that I knew of.

“I waited three days for the weather to turn around, half-expecting to receive a response from Henrich, but none came. Soon, during a period of lighter snow, I was finally able to take a handful of men with supplies and an extra horse, and we set out to Henrich’s cottage to barter. What we saw when we arrived there, though, has done nothin’ but haunt us all to this very day.

“When we got to the cottage, there was nae fire or warmth anywhere, though the cold of winter still raged around us, and no one answered when we called out. Fearing the worst, my men charged into the house… before several rushed back out again to let their guts loose in the snow. Sittin’ at the table inside was Henrich’s wife, Belisa. Her face was… half-eaten, and she was missin’ both her arms as well as a leg. She sat at the table with the courier’s note in front of her—now spattered with blood—and she seemed to have been counting out the coins for a new horse before being taken by such a brutal death. Henrich was nowhere to be found.

“The cabin itself was torn apart with what seemed to be claw-marks from some huge beast. We searched all around the property, but could find no trace of Henrich, only footprints too large to be his and a blood trail leading deeper into the forest. We followed as far as we dared, but eventually gave up the chase. The forest is nae a place to be trifled with, and the weather would be turning bad again soon, so we could only go back an’ collect Belisa’s remains, leaving ev’rything else as is.

“The thing is, since that day, ev’ry once in a while our little village receives… _visits_ from a large, terrifying creature that pillages wherever it goes, always makin’ off with our livestock. We have no real evidence, but I strongly believe this creature to be Henrich, somehow twisted and warped from the dark magiks of the forest. Perhaps the poor lad had been sufferin’ starvation and turned to cannibalism in his madness, transformin’ him into the thing that now stalks the village.”

The mayor let out a deep sigh as he finished his tale.

“As of right now, it would seem that the creature only appears once ev’ry few months, steals any livestock that it can, and leaves. I have no idea where it goes, and I nae want to know, but I would pay quite a handsome sum to whoever could rid Eallachstead of its presence.”

By the time the mayor’s story was complete, Fai was deep in contemplation about the forest and its supposed ‘dark magiks.’ He pored through his mind in an attempt to recall any sort of magic that could turn a human into a terrifying beast, but came up with nothing. He had his doubts that magic could have had something to do with the creation of such a creature, but made a mental note to read up on as much of this village’s beliefs and superstitions as possible later.

“Mayor Gunmer?” he asked, noticing his companions still mulling the story over themselves. “I’ve been to the schoolhouse and noticed that there is a small collection of books and tomes. I’m curious as to whether or not I may be able to study those and learn more about the lore of this town. Or perhaps there is someplace else that holds books I could research?”

The mayor regarded him with a fond smile. “Ah, a scholar. I had ye pegged for one with that vocabulary of yours. I’m afraid those books are the only ones ye’ll find in this town. Nae too many writers here, I’m afraid, aside from the children. We only got our first headmistress six years ago, an’ she’s been workin’ herself to the bone to teach the children writin’.”

“That’s quite all right,” Fai responded, smiling at the mayor himself. “To be honest, I was more hoping to find books elsewhere so that I wouldn’t have to face the scary teacher!”

At this, the mayor bellowed a laugh, effectively pulling the others back into the present.

“Yes, Gerda, she’s cold, that one!” Gunmer laughed. “But she’s all bark and nae bite. Just tell her that Mayor Gunmer sent ye to research the creature, and she’ll bother ye nae further.”

“Thank you,” Fai stated, leaning back in his chair. “I believe I’ll get started this evening, then. I’m very interested in finding out just how magical that forest is.”

“Very well, but I’ll warn ye now that I’ve restricted all access to the forest. I ask ye to please respect my decision and not go throwin’ your young lives away. Save the huntin’ of the creature to the traveling mercenaries. More an’ more respond to our summons ev’ry year.”

“Oh?” Kurogane chimed in, recalling that he had not once seen a mercenary in this town.

He was about to press the matter to the mayor, when a knock came at the door.

“Excuse me, dear? Some of the townsfolk are here with the damage report this time ‘round. They’d like to give it as soon as possible, so they can go back to repairs.”

“Of course, dear,” Gunmer replied, rising from his chair before turning to address the travelers. “My apologies, lads. If ye have further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask around the town. Ev’ryone here is friendly and will nae mind talkin’ about their troubles, especially if ye plan on stayin’ a while.”

Syaoran rose from his chair and bowed politely, Fai and Kurogane following suit.

“Thank you very much for sharing this information with us, Mayor Gunmer,” the boy said gratefully. “You’ve been very helpful.”

“‘Twas my pleasure, lads. Do be careful, and I wish ye a warm welcome to Eallachstead.”


	3. Part II

By the time the mayor had finished retelling the events of the past, it was late morning, and they were all very late for their respective jobs.

“If I know Kartha,” Fai began, walking with his arms laced behind his head, “she’ll have just started baking enough bread to feed the whole village by now!”

“Well,” Kurogane sulked, hands shoved in his pockets. “If I know that smith, he’ll have just emptied his entire arsenal for me to wipe clean for being late!”

“Poor Kuro-puu!” Mokona chimed without the slightest hint of remorse.

“Poor Kuro-puu!” Fai repeated, latching onto the larger man’s arm enthusiastically.

Syaoran smiled, inwardly congratulating his two older companions at just how expressive they’d become around each other. On the outside, they looked almost exactly as they did when their journey first started—a fervent mage hanging off the arm of a rather annoyed ninja—but to Syaoran the scene was vastly different. He could see the way Fai’s smile was bright and true, without even the slightest hint of falsification; he could see how Kurogane’s eyes softened as he looked down at his lover, the edges of his mouth pointing slightly upwards despite his gruff demeanor. To compare the way the two acted around each other currently to the beginning of their journey may as well have been to compare night to day.

Blushing furiously as thoughts of Sakura looking at him with the same gentle expression began to bloom, Syaoran veered away from his companions. “Well, I’m going to see if there’s anything around town I can help clean up. I’ll meet you back at the room tonight.”

Fai waved towards the boy as he wandered off with Mokona steady on his shoulder, then begrudgingly untangled himself from Kurogane’s arm. After sharing a soft glance, the two parted ways, and Fai tried his best to act surprised when he arrived at the bakery and Kartha informed him that she was, in fact, attempting to cook lunch for the entire village.

Following several hours of preparation before lunch and several more hours of cleaning up the mess of ingredients afterward, Fai was finally able to bid Kartha farewell and set off towards his next destination. The sun was low on the horizon as he took the path to the schoolhouse, waving at Syaoran when he noticed the boy helping a group of townsfolk heave a toppled lamppost back into a standing position. A few clicks of shoes along the cobblestone path ahead alerted him to a group of children playing tag on the freshly cleaned streets, with hardly a speck of litter from the previous night’s attack in sight.

_The village truly does recover quickly from these hits…_ Fai found himself thinking, even though he now understood that they’d been forced to deal with it for four years now.

He soon stood at the door leading into the small schoolhouse, and took a deep breath to steel himself before facing the headmistress Gerda once more. He wasn’t sure why, but she had some strange fascination with calling him ‘serah’ rather than his actual name, and he was starting to realize just how Kurogane must have felt when he first started calling him nicknames. Fai was told that it was just a form of endearment, like the ‘–kun’ he sometimes adds to Syaoran’s name, but he still wasn’t sure quite what he thought of the moniker.

As he pushed open the white wooden door, he was both surprised and relieved to see that the teacher was, in fact, not present. Letting out a quiet sigh, he immediately moved to the single five-shelf bookcase propped up against the wall to the left of the room. It was here that he found the only books in town, aside from those they used in the church, and he set about browsing through the thick, dusty tomes at once.

One hour later saw the light outside diminishing even further, and Fai sprawled out on the floor amidst myriad books, holding one above him and flipping through it as he lay on his back. He noticed when the door opened and closed, and mentally prepared himself to face the one who had previously kicked him out. Deciding it was best to get it out of the way as quickly as possible, Fai set down the book and sat up, crossing his legs while looking up at the headmistress with a wide smile. She surveyed his current position amongst the books—he was sure he must resemble a cat soaking up the heat in a patch of sunlight—then clicked her tongue.

“You needn’t explain yourself, serah. I just came from the mayor’s office,” she began, her accent distinct in a way that sounded unlike any other villager. “I don’t know how you managed to do it, but he’s allowing you free reign of all my precious books and maps. I do hope you have no plans of carelessly ruining them by holding them in such a way that the older pages could so very easily fall out and become ripped or maimed.”

Fai grimaced, realizing that she must have seen him holding the book above his head when she came in, and the young woman strode past him.

“My apologies,” he said earnestly. “I do promise to be more careful in the future.”

The headmistress glared back at him for a moment, then huffed.

“Well, at least your grammar is impeccable. I suppose I shall allow you to remain whilst I grade the children’s essays.”

Fai wasn’t sure whether she meant that as a compliment or not, but the pure, unadulterated silence following her statement was almost too thick for him to handle.

“You know, both myself _and_ my impeccable grammar are still willing to become your assistant,” Fai offered, breaking the quiet. “I truly do enjoy teaching children! I love them!”

Gerda scoffed, a dark laugh escaping her as she shook her head. “Well, you must pardon me for not exactly wanting a complete stranger—who showed up out of nowhere with no credentials, mind you—near my charges simply because he tells me he ‘loves’ children.”

Fai winced slightly, but his smile remained. “Ah, yes. I can see how that could be labeled as suspicious.”

“The most suspicious,” the headmistress responded, stalking further away from him to her desk across the room. “And don’t think I don’t know about your relationship with that companion of yours. Kurogane, was it?”

The blonde flinched, panic gripping his heart for a moment. Throughout their travels, they had encountered numerous worlds not quite ready to accept their relationship… and most of them had not exactly had the most cordial ways of letting them know.

Gerda took up a pen and sat down, pulling a nearby paper scrawled with a child’s best handwriting in front of her to begin grading it.

“You don’t have to worry, serah,” she said. “You’ll find most people around here don’t mind that much. Though I do believe I’m still the only one who’s truly figured it out, and that’s only because I like to keep an eye on newcomers.”

Fai breathed deeply, allowing the anxiety to slip away as he leaned back against the bookcase and listened to the scratching of the teacher’s pen. He knew that he hadn’t been too careful in the past month around his lover, which could have dire ramifications in a world that only normalized relationships between certain genders; but the previous world they had traveled from was just so friendly and accepting that it was difficult to go back to hiding their affection in public. He was glad this world seemed at least not to condemn it.

“Don’t you have a perilous creature to research?” Gerda remarked after a few moments, placing a graded paper in a small stack to her right while pulling another from the larger stack to her left.

Springing up from his relaxed position instantly at the authoritative tone of her voice, Fai turned back towards the book he had been reading, reflecting on just how remarkable the headmistress must be at handling her students.

“Well, yes, but I am finding it quite odd that there are no pictures of this creature in any of the historical texts of the past four years. Has no one recorded its image?”

Gerda scoffed once more. “But of course they have. They’re just not in those historical texts because I took painstaking effort to remove them. This is a _schoolhouse_ , serah. There are children present who could easily open one of those books and scare themselves senseless!”

She took something out of her pocket and fiddled around with it near one of her desk drawers. Fai reasoned that it was a key, and this was confirmed when the air was disturbed by the sound of a soft ‘ _click_.’ After retrieving some papers, Gerda pushed back her chair and strode back to Fai’s side, offering him the stack. Graciously accepting, he made to pull them towards him, but the headmistress’s grip remained firm.

“I warn you,” she said, staring the mage straight in the eye. “Old Man Whistler nearly went insane drawing these images of the creature. He was the head sentry before his son Ferus took over, and he never was quite the same having seen the creature that first time four years ago. Ever since, each sentry has been instructed to run back to the village as fast as possible and ring the warning bell _as soon_ as the creature has been sighted, and to _never_ look at it directly.”

Fai listened with growing concern. A creature that could cause madness from a single look—that hit quite a bit too close to home for him. Nevertheless, he remained steadfast and nodded his understanding, with the background thought that it could always just be another wild tale devised from overly-superstitious folk.

“Thank you. I accept any consequences.”

Hearing that, the teacher released her hold on the papers and swiveled back around.

“Very well. I did manage to take a look at the images once before, to see if I could find any likeness to Henrich. I didn’t know him too well—in fact, I’d only ever seen him a few times since I arrived six years ago—but Old Man Whistler drew him in some of those pictures, too, convinced as he was that Henrich and the creature were one in the same.”

By then she was already sitting back at her desk, continuing her grading.

“I had a nightmare the night I first glimpsed those images,” she continued softly, trailing off a bit. “I’ve kept them locked up ever since.”

Fai waited to see if Gerda would continue, slightly worried since she had suddenly seemed to go quite pale, but she didn’t utter another word. With only slight hesitation, Fai overturned the first page to find a pair of beady, piercing eyes looking back at him.

The charcoal image depicted a tall, lanky being with arms going down to almost its knees, and claws that extended even further. It was covered in a layer of thin, translucent skin that looked like it could peel off any second; bones and veins were prominent beneath. It appeared to be naked, but no semblance of gender could be determined from appearance as it seemed to have no reproductive organs. Sharp talons jutted out of each foot, and on its head were long strands of dark hair that fell across its facial features like tiny rivulets of black ink. A full set of jagged, pointed teeth protruded from the creature’s mouth—top and bottom—and in place of a nose were simply two long nostrils dipping into the bones of the skull, as if the nose fell off long ago.

What Fai found the most disconcerting, however, were the creature’s _eyes_. They bore straight into him as if searching his soul, even though there was practically nothing to them. The sclera and iris were blended almost perfectly with each other, while the pupil was not more than a small spot of black in the middle, glaring with such an intense gaze that Fai almost felt vulnerable.

_How close could Old Man Whistler have been to this thing, to have such a detailed depiction of it?_ Fai wondered. _It had to have been right on top of him…_

For a moment, Fai wondered just how large the creature was, but he didn’t have to wonder long as he placed the first page underneath the pile to view the second. On this page, it was just as Gerda had described: a rendition of the creature standing right next to its supposed counterpart Henrich. He was a plain-looking man with a short beard and long, dark hair, and the creature quite simply towered over him. Beside Henrich’s sketch, the numbers _6’2’’_ were displayed, and he only reached chest height of the creature. Beside the sketch of the creature, one could see written, _8’5’’???_ , indicating that Old Man Whistler’s height for the thing was pure conjecture based on sight alone.

That didn’t surprise Fai, though. Who could ever get so close to a creature like that as to be able to both draw it and accurately calculate its height? Inwardly, Fai found himself praising this poor old man for his sacrifice; of course no one would ever be the same after having gotten so very close to a living nightmare—it was only natural.

“Headmistress,” Fai began, tearing his eyes away from the images, “Old Man Whistler survived this encounter, did he not?”

“He did,” Gerda replied. “In fact, believe it or not, that thing just walked past him and started slaughtering the livestock nearby instead.”

Fai was thoroughly confused.

“It went straight for the livestock? Wait… has this thing ever actually killed any of the villagers?”

“No, serah. It hasn’t to anyone’s knowledge, aside from possibly Belisa, but what does that matter?” Gerda set down her pen to look the mage squarely in the eye. “Look at those images. Do they not invoke _something_ akin to terror in your heart? Children and adults alike are petrified at the mere mention of the creature. It comes without warning, wreaking its butchery upon our livestock. If things continue as they are, not only will it completely decimate our way of life—the animal counts dwindle further year by year—but it will also have the next generation growing up forever in fear of those woods and forever in fear of that creature. What kind of consequences do you think that would bring? To be a slave to the horror of an unknown creature that comes to terrorize you every few months—constantly wondering when it will claim a human victim? Whatever this being is, serah, it is nothing benevolent; I can tell you that, at least.”

Fai looked back down towards the images awkwardly, berating himself for having brought up such an absurd theory, and he soon heard the scratching of a pen once more as the teacher continued her work. Choosing instead not to dwell on the creature for too much longer, Fai browsed through the rest of the images, noting that they were more or less different perspectives of the creature—sometimes with Henrich and sometimes without—then opted to set down the small stack and inquire upon another matter.

“In one of these older tomes,” he began, shuffling through his pile of books. “Ah, here it is! This one—it says that this town was once governed not by a mayor, but by a lord. Is that right?”

“That’s correct, serah,” the headmistress responded, not bothering to look up from her work this time. “Hundreds of years ago, the prosperous Yorgun family and all of their descendants gained the title ‘Lord of the Land’ after earning the respect of the village by chasing away a group of bandits.”

Fai glanced down at the historic tome he had found containing this information.

“I see,” he said. “And it looks like they owned a castle within the forest? The forest that is held in such superstition?”

The headmistress deigned to give Fai a side eye, a small smile creeping onto her face.

“My, my, nothing slips past you, does it?” she inquired. “Indeed, if I recall correctly, the castle was built on the southern border of the land, a short ways into the wood. This was to aid in case of an attack from the forest either by dangerous animals or bandits. The mountains protect us enough in most other directions, so the south was where they decided to build their fortress.”

Finally choosing to abandon her grading, she regarded Fai with a once more passive expression.

“It was occupied for quite a good length of time, but sadly the Yorgun line ended when the final lord was taken by illness before he could produce an heir; and soon enough the castle lay empty. Several times other families tried to step in to become the new lords, but it’s told that Eallachstead turned down each one, instead choosing to elect a mayor in place of a lord.”

“But didn’t the lord protect the land? Isn’t that why the family and their forces lived in the fortress?”

“Well, yes, but the strange thing is that it’s almost as if the lord never left. History recounts that this little village had no further trouble with bandits or wild animals, even years after the last Yorgun had passed on. In fact, the only thing that was ever truly reported was the livestock would go missing on occasion.”

“Livestock? Just like from last night?”

Gerda was taken aback, a look of thoughtfulness coming across her face.

“Well… yes. I suppose so. But there are definitely no records of such a creature being spotted anytime before four years ago. The only records of crime over the past few hundred years are old reports of livestock going missing and petty thievery, which is why the town only elected a single mayor to govern them.”

Fai hummed in understanding, flipping through the volume in search of the castle’s exact whereabouts.

“Would you happen to know where in the south this castle was located?”

Gerda gave Fai an inquisitive look, but yielded to his request as she reached for another paper to grade.

“If you look in the back of _The Historical Texts: Volume 2_ , you’ll find a map of the forest—or at least how it used to look. You needn’t worry about ruining it; I treat it with a special substance each year to ensure its longevity.”

Fai found the tome in question, opening the back cover to discover the folded piece of paper within. Opening it carefully, he was surprised at the sheer amount of detail within the chart. The entirety of the town was clearly shown, but the map also depicted much of the forest itself—from the windmill on the outskirts to Henrich’s cabin a little ways in and the castle beyond that, everything was clearly and specifically marked.

“Unfortunately, most of the older maps have worn down to almost nothing now, which is why I’ve started coating my newer ones in protective oils. I did research them thoroughly, however, when I penned this one three years ago; and by my estimates everything should be at least mostly accurate in its placement.”

“ _You_ made this?” Fai asked incredulously, admiring her handiwork.

The teacher stared at him in shock, and no small amount of disdain.

“Of course I did, serah! It is my job as the headmistress—no, as the only scholar in town—to record the history of Eallachstead! Why, I was hired from the capital itself to do just so in accordance with teaching the children! Who on earth did you think wrote those precisely grammatical books you’ve been poring through, serah? The mayor?”

Fai tried his best not to burst out laughing at Gerda’s incredible display of humility, and she did take notice. Going completely red in the face, the young teacher placed her pen down rather harshly, rose from her desk, and began a hasty march in Fai’s direction.

“If you have time to sit there and ridicule me even though you’ve been studying six years worth of my laborious work for most of the night, I believe you must certainly have finished your research!”

She pulled the mage up by his arm, and he stood quickly as she began to push him towards the door.

“Wait! I do apologize!” Fai tried to console, though he could tell his words meant little to her. “I honestly didn’t mean to offend you! I was just astounded by how detailed everything is!”

Letting go for a moment since they had reached the schoolhouse door, the headmistress turned to regard the blonde one last time with a look of nothing but pure contempt.

“If there’s nothing else, serah,” she said as she opened the door. “I bid you a _very fond_ good night.”

Fai winced at her tone, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to research any further that night. It was all for the best, however, since the light would be completely gone soon and he knew the rules about traversing the village at night.

“Umm, perhaps, if I could…” he began, trying not to notice how she kept inching him more and more outside.

“Spit it out, serah. I would like to sleep sometime tonight.”

“The images and the map—could I borrow them, please?”

Gerda stood there glaring at him for a moment, as he was now fully outside and her hand was on the door ready to close it. Her scowl grew so cold that Fai was surprised it didn’t start snowing, but she removed her hand from the door and stalked back to the pile of books, picking up the discarded stack of images and the map.

“Here you are, serah,” she said, practically shoving them into his arms. “If anything happens to them, that creature may be the least of your worries.”

With that, the door slammed shut, and Fai could hear the tell-tale signs of a lock and bolt being placed. Shuddering slightly at just how far south the conversation had gone, but still giggling to himself at just how easily the cold-hearted headmistress could get riled up, Fai set off back towards the inn.

…

Opening the door to the tavern, Fai was met with the same utter chaos that had pressed all four of the travelers to continue their dinner upstairs the night previously. This time, however, the villagers seemed not to be celebrating trade with a large caravan, but rather celebrating the fact that they had survived another attack with apparently minimal damage. Fai overheard a group of men clanging their mugs of ale together, one of them while exclaiming, “Why, last night was almost a joke! Last time the creature did three times as much damage, it did!”

Shaking his head at their larking about, he looked around for his companions, wondering if they had retreated upstairs already.

“Ah, Fai, there ye be!”

Harti came lumbering out of the kitchen with a tray full of food in one hand and three mugs of ale in the other.

“Your companion already came back, he did—the good-looking one with the rugged features and swoon-worthy muscles!” Harti told him with a wink. “I ‘aven’t seen the boy or the pixie yet, but that handsome fellow took up enough food for all four a’ ye. Should be upstairs now!”

Fai nodded his thanks, hardly able to hear her above all the shouting for more ale and snacks, and pushed around her to the staircase leading up to the inn. He let out a sigh of relief when he reached the door separating the upstairs from the down and closed it behind him, drowning out a great deal of the noise. For a moment, he thought he’d gone deaf at how much quieter it was, but he could still faintly hear the sounds of cookware rattling and men singing rambunctiously below him.

When he opened the door to their shared room, Fai leaned against the doorframe with a grin spread across his features at the sight of Kurogane.

“Good evening, _handsome fellow_ ,” the mage drawled, doing his best impression of Harti.

The ninja simply rolled his eyes with a smile and bit off another chunk of bread from the dish before him.

“Is Syaoran not here yet?” Fai asked, taking a seat beside the other man. “I hope he knows how late it’s gotten…”

By now it was almost completely dark outside, and everyone was likely hurrying to return home for the night. The tavern-goers usually stayed the night at the inn (or drunkenly passed out on one of the tables) when they were this rowdy, so Fai had no worries about them, but he was worried about the young brunette traveling with only Mokona at his side this late in the evening.

“He should be back soon. I met up with him on my way back, and he said he just had a quick stop to make.”

Fai ‘hmm’d’ a response, but was a bit concerned by how tired Kurogane seemed to look.

“What’s wrong, Kuro-sama? Look, you’re all clean! I guess you didn’t need me to go get the well-water tonight, now did you?”

Kurogane huffed. “The smith took one look at me and practically dumped me in the river to wash off. Then he just had me melt ore all day. Guess even he has a heart when he wants.”

His answer was fine, but Fai could still tell there was something going on.

“Kuro…gane.”

The ninja tensed, his entire body going rigid as he turned to regard the mage with a rather questioning look. Red eyes shone with a hint of pain that few people could detect, and Fai instantly felt the guilt weigh down on him as knew exactly what his lover was remembering in that moment.

“Sorry, sorry,” Fai said, instantly placating him. “I just… thought that was the only way I could get your attention.”

The blonde reached over to touch Kurogane’s arm lightly. “Is something the matter? You just seem down. Is there anything I can-”

Fai was taken aback when Kurogane suddenly captured his lips with his own, but relaxed almost immediately, bringing his arms up to encircle the ninja’s head and deepen the kiss. It was slow, but filled with such passion that Fai was almost dizzy. Kurogane’s arms came around his back to pull him closer as he continued, and when Fai noticed that his chair had practically been replaced with the other man’s lap, he had to end their little session. Things were getting a bit too heated, and Syaoran could return any second.

Slowly—and rather hesitantly—pulling away, Fai gazed into pools of deep crimson.

“I get it now…” the blonde sighed relaxing into Kurogane’s hold. “We haven’t really had all that much time to ourselves recently now, have we?”

Kurogane didn’t say anything at first, but his eyes told Fai everything. A few moments before, those eyes held a pain that could barely be perceived, but now Fai could see clearly what was going on. Within Kurogane’s eyes he could see a dream—a dream of simplicity—a dream of home. Within those eyes Fai could see small pink petals floating through the air, in flurries as thick as the snowfall in Celes, and low wooden bridges expanding over still pools of water which held the moon upon their surface. Within those eyes Fai could see Nihon. He placed a hand on the ninja’s cheek, and could only hope that within his own eyes his lover could see the same dream reflected back at him.

“I understand that we’re doing all of this for him,” the ninja finally spoke solemnly, “but sometimes I wonder when we’ll be able to just… stop.”

“I know,” Fai cooed, resting his head on the taller man’s shoulder. “And I’m sure Syaoran knows, too. You know how guilty he always looks whenever he catches us trying to have a moment. You know he tries to give us as much privacy as possible when we ask. But you also know that we volunteered for this, and we can’t stop now. Not until we’ve found a way where we can all live happily. All of us.”

“I know. And I have absolutely no intention of stopping this journey until that happens. I just… wouldn’t have any qualms to it happening a bit sooner, that’s all.”

“My, my, Kuro-sama. ‘Qualms.’ Look at you using your vocabulary.”

Kurogane chuckled, ruffling Fai’s long hair playfully, before they both relaxed once more. The two sat there for a while, in a rather uncomfortable wooden chair that may or may not have been bending beneath their combined weights, and thoughtfully contemplated their mission so far, and the journey that had brought them together. They were only allowed another few minutes of solace before they heard the _click_ of the door being opened, however, and quickly separated to sit in their own chairs and pretend they had been eating their now lukewarm dinner.

Syaoran eyed them as he entered, knowing full well that he had likely interrupted something and feeling quite remorseful because of it; but he didn’t even have time to say anything before Mokona vaulted from his shoulder, proudly exclaiming, “We’re back!”

Fai caught the tiny manjuu and twirled them about.

“Welcome back!” he cheered. “Kuro-hungry and I were just getting worried! Dinner has gotten a bit cold, but we’re glad you made it back before the nightly bell rang.”

Syaoran smiled sadly at him and apologized with his eyes, realizing that Fai would rather drop the subject of what they had been doing before he arrived.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he took a seat himself and began to cut open a nearby piece of bread. “I overheard a great deal of conversations about previous attacks from the creature while I was helping out around the village today, so I went to question a few more residents about the creature and whether or not anyone has ever been able to stand up to it.”

“We found out some really interesting things!” Mokona chirped while guzzling down a small bowl of soup. “Especially for Kuro-puu!”

“Oh?” the ninja questioned.

“Yes. I know that you wanted to ask the mayor earlier about the mercenaries he had been hiring, so I asked around. Surprisingly a few of the village residents had once fought back against the creature several years ago, but because it was so fast and its skin was so thick that they could only ever wound it and never mortally injure or kill it. When search parties used to go out into the forest to try to find its lair and destroy it, they more than often never returned.

“Since then, the mayor has banned everyone from entering the forest, and the village has been having routine meetings to discuss what can be done. The conversations have ranged from erecting a wall around the entire village and farmlands—a rather expensive undertaking—to moving the village completely to another, safer valley on the other side of the mountains—which would be even more expensive.

“In order to protect the village since the meetings started two years ago, the mayor put out a request for any and all knights, mercenaries, hunters, and bodyguards to come to the village and try their hand at slaying the beast. Any money that was being saved for a wall or a migration would be passed down to the victors should any succeed in slaying the beast. However, none ever have, and when so many battle-trained warriors weren’t returning from the quest, fewer and fewer have been answering the mayor’s summons.”

“Well, the mayor certainly seems to think that more will come,” Kurogane spouted, slightly disappointed by this discovery.

“He’s remaining optimistic despite the odds,” Fai pondered. “But that could land him in even more trouble if the situation gets worse. He’s begging for help that, one day, likely won’t come.”

“Why don’t they just burn it to the ground?” Kurogane wondered. “The whole forest?”

“Come now, Kuro-sama, do you really think this little village has what it needs to start a controlled fire over a forest so big?”

Kurogane contemplated the thought, then shook his head.

“No, you’re right. The wind could easily blow the fire back towards the village.”

“And it doesn’t help that there’s a mostly wooden windmill just outside the forest as well.”

Syaoran looked up at Fai, swallowing down the bite he had just taken of soup and bread.

“How do you know that, Fai-san? Did you find it in one of the school’s books?”

“Ah, yes!” Fai exclaimed, picking up the papers he had placed on the table earlier.

Producing the drawings and map he had borrowed from the schoolhouse, Fai detailed everything Gerda had told him about the town’s past lords and livestock disappearances. The fact that there was an old castle that must be nothing more than crumbling ruins by now piqued Kurogane’s interest.

“If ever a beast like that were to have a lair, it would definitely be there.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Fai responded, collecting the papers once more into a neat stack. “That’s why I asked to borrow these. I was thinking we could perhaps go on a little monster hunt, with the mayor’s blessing of course.”

“Well, I’m down for it,” Kurogane said as he stood up and stretched.

“Me, too,” Fai concurred, “but I think first I’d be down for a bit of a nap.”

“Mokona seconds the notion!”

Syaoran laughed quietly, looking at the ninja with eyes that simply screamed, “Sleep first, hunt later.”

Sighing loudly, the ninja ruffled the hair on both of their heads.

“I didn’t mean _right now_ ,” he began. “It’s not like we can go bother the mayor this late, and I don’t exactly like the idea of trying to face the creature in its own territory without a proper source of light. That would just be suicide.”

Syaoran took the map from the top of the stack of papers and opened it up once more.

“According to the mayor, though, it takes nearly a day just to make it to Henrich’s old cabin. That means that even if we set out as soon as the sun rises, we’d still be making it to the castle ruins after nightfall…”

“We could always stay a night in Henrich’s cabin,” Fai contemplated. “If we set out tomorrow morning, we could make it there by late in the day, then fortify it as much as we can with the remaining light.”

Kurogane flashed one of his half-grins in the mage’s direction, impressed by his suggestion.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” he affirmed. “I’d want to take a look at that place anyway, just to see if we can find anything that definitively ties these two together…”

As he spoke, he had taken one of the drawings from the stack and was scrutinizing both the man and the creature depicted.

“Me, too,” Fai added. “If this Henrich really is the creature, perhaps he can be brought back to himself.”

“I’m not so sure about that, mage. If I remember anything from Nihon’s legends, it’s that men who have fully transformed into demons are a bit too far gone.”

“Still,” Syaoran interjected, folding the map and placing it on top of the stack once more. “It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“No,” Kurogane replied. “But we also have to remember that if Henrich is that creature, then he brutally murdered and partially ate his own wife. Do you honestly think anyone would be the same coming back from that?”

Kurogane’s words sunk into the others’ thoughts like an arrow through flesh. It was something Fai hadn’t wanted to think about—and something Syaoran hadn’t even considered yet—and it brought on a silence that lingered in the room for more than just a few long moments. Eventually, however, Fai brought it to an end as he began to clear away the dishes.

“Well, now that we’ve been given such a good deal to think about, let’s think about it in our dreams. I’m quite ready to turn in after having spent all last night locked in a tiny basement shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of gross, smelly men.”

“Hey, now. They weren’t that bad.”

“Oh, I know they weren’t, Kuro-sama. I was talking about you and your little soot-sprite costume.”

He barely missed the Mokona flung at him as he raced outside the door to take the dishes downstairs.


	4. Part III

Fai had mentioned dreams, but in truth none of them had any that night, sleeping as deeply and soundly as they were. In fact, the four travelers were asleep before the nightly bell had even been rung. When it did ring, however, Kurogane shifted and grunted, but didn’t fully awaken. The only problem was that it just kept ringing and ringing and _ringing_ and—

Kurogane shot up out of bed, immediately realizing from the pitch black darkness outside that they must have been asleep for hours by now, and that he wasn’t hearing the nightly bell tolling outside, but rather the warning bell—and he only recognized it because they had just heard the same thing last night.

Fai was up beside him in an instant, and Syaoran and Mokona were stirring in their bed, too. They dressed as hurriedly as possible, already hearing Harti banging on the doors of their neighbors to go down to the safe house. Kurogane almost groaned in disbelief that they would have to spend another night down in that cellar, when all of the sudden the tolling of the warning bell stopped abruptly. A scream filled the air—the terrified shriek of a man who knew his life was about to end—and it was deafeningly loud even from so far away outside their window. All at once, however, it too was abruptly cut off.

Syaoran exchanged a horrified look with his older companions, all of them realizing what must have just happened to the sentry. They stood silently for a moment. No villagers had died the previous night, or even at all in the past that they knew of. The creature was supposed to only come once every few months to do some damage and take some livestock, so why was it here again now? And _why was it killing people_?

A harsh pounding on the door jolted them back to the present as Fai rushed to open it. Harti stood there panting in her nightgown—clearly her first priority had been to ensure her guests’ safety—and barked for them to get downstairs immediately.

“What about you?” Fai asked as Harti began sprinting away down the hall.

“I’m just checkin’ me back alley for any brats up past their bedtime, then I’ll be down ta bolt the door! Ye just get yerselves down there now! Make sure to catch any stragglers ye can!”

And then the innkeeper was gone. The travelers quickly followed her orders, rushing downstairs and keeping an eye out for other wayward townsfolk. This time, however, their intentions were not to stay in the cellar. Now that the thing was starting to take human lives, they weren’t about to cower in a safe house all night. When they reached the cellar with what few people they had managed to round up, all was not silent with fear as it had been the night previously, but rather abuzz with panic and frustration.

“The creature ne’er comes two nights in a row!”

“What’s it want?!”

“What if it wants the travelers?”

“It can _have_ the travelers, if’n ya ask me!”

“Well nobody done asked you now did they?” Harti yelled, bursting into the room with all her might and tossing two young boys inside. “Now this is what you two get fer runnin’ amok in the wee hours of the mornin’! Stay ‘ere and keep yer yaps shut! That goes fer all of you!”

Harti moved to swing the door shut, but was stopped by Kurogane who gently, yet firmly took hold of her arm.

“Stay here, and keep the door locked and bolted,” he said, brushing past the innkeeper. Fai and Syaoran were quick to follow, the former patting Harti on the shoulder with a smile.

“Well, aren’t ye all mad!” Harti gasped, her eyes wide.

She had no time to stop them or try to talk them out of their efforts, though, since they were already running up the stairs and nearly out of sight before she could even blink. Shaking her head incredulously, the innkeeper had no other choice than to slam the door and bolt it shut to protect her other charges.

On their way out of the tavern to face the creature, Kurogane and Syaoran withdrew their swords using Fai’s magic. However, Fai took hold of Mokona to request something a bit different from his usual fighting style.

“Mokona, do you remember that weapon I asked you to hold onto? The one from Acid Tokyo?”

“Huh? The wooden one that can shoot arrows?”

“Yes! Could you get that for me, please?”

Within seconds, Mokona’s mouth had opened wide and deposited the very weapon Fai had asked for.

“Thank you,” Fai praised, patting the creature on the head and placing them on his shoulder. “Call it a feeling, but I think that a ranged crossbow may be better for this situation.”

The group stopped just outside the inn and tavern, falling into a defensive formation that they’d committed to muscle memory—Kurogane taking the lead, with Fai and Syaoran at the ready on both sides behind him. It had become habit by now, the group having used it so frequently over the years of countless battles. This time was decidedly different, however. They had not stopped out of habit, but rather due to the fact that the very sight of the creature was enough to halt them in their tracks.

It came lumbering into view from around the corner of a building on the far end of the street, plodding slowly along as if looking for something. There was blood dripping from its teeth and covering much of its skin. A man hung from one of its arms, impaled in the creature’s elongated claws, but the body slid off once the creature halted its movement to stare down its adversaries. The thing slightly cocked its head to one side, then the other—almost as if its neck were broken—and let out such a hideous _screech_ that the travelers knew they would be hearing it in their nightmares.

It began to lope at full speed towards the group, all of them readying their weapons as shivers ran down their spines. None of them could have comprehended just how _fast_ the creature was. As it had just gotten past halfway towards the group, however, there was a sharp _twang_ and the creature recoiled in pain with a growl, a bolt now protruding from the lower part of its ribs.

Kurogane looked towards Fai, who was staring in cold determination at the creature as it reared back up, snarling at him. He readied another bolt, and fired again, but the creature saw it coming and lunged to the right, the bolt cutting into its thigh instead of where it had been aimed at its heart. The creature snarled again before taking a few steps back, crying out in what could only be described as dismay and frustration. With one last glance towards the group, it turned and bounded back towards the forest as quickly as it had come, plucking out and dispatching of the bolts along the way.

The ninja was quick to give chase, sprinting in the same direction.

“Kurogane!” Fai called, shocked that the ninja was being so careless. “This is nothing to rush into!”

“If we let that thing go lick its wounds we may never stand a chance! I know what I’m doing, but we can’t just lose it!”

With that the man turned and continued running at full-pace after the blood trail.

“Damn it!” Fai cursed, biting his thumbnail as Syaoran hung about nervously, obviously torn between staying or running after his mentor. “Mokona! Grab the map!”

Fai flung the little manjuu up towards the window to their room.

“Right! Mokona’s got it!” they said as they crept through the window, unlocking it with one of their secret techniques.

“Syaoran, Kurogane’s right,” Fai explained, turning back towards the boy. “We can’t just let this thing go; but we also can’t afford to rush headlong after it straight into its own territory, and I’m sure he knows that. He’ll pick up the trail and wait for us, then we can figure out what to do next.”

The boy glanced around the deserted streets, horrified to find that more than just one sentry had been slain, before looking up at the blonde.

“I feel bad just leaving like this, but I agree that it’s our best option. You’ve already wounded it pretty badly, now we just have to finish it off before it can do any more damage.”

“Exactly.”

Mokona hopped back down into Fai’s waiting hands, the map fluttering in their tiny grasp, and the three wasted no time as Fai tucked Mokona into his cloak and took off running after their companion, Syaoran not far behind. They dashed across the long, empty fields where livestock would graze throughout the day, the forest looming ahead of them as the creature’s blood trail remained wet beneath their feet. Along their route, it upset them further to confirm that none of the six sentries had survived this onslaught from the creature, and Fai quickened his pace in an effort to catch up with the ninja as quickly as possible.

A windmill came into view after they’d reached the crest of a large hill, which Fai instantly recognized as the windmill from the map—they had reached the forest border. The creature’s trail continued on through the thick canopy of trees, but the mage found himself pausing, slightly hesitant to enter their domain. Syaoran came to a stop beside him, looking in amazement at just how large the trees actually were. They had been running for a good fifteen minutes just to reach them, but he had originally thought them to be much closer had they been averagely sized trees.

“They’re gigantic…” Mokona breathed in amazement, their little figure bending backwards as if trying to see the top of the trees.

“They’re magical,” Fai surmised, touching one of the nearby trunks and finding himself amazed that the townsfolk truly did have a reason to distrust the forest. “Now I understand why the villagers hold this forest in such high regard and superstition. There is _nothing_ natural about these trees.”

“You can say that again,” came a gruff voice as a figure jumped down onto a low branch.

“Kurogane-san!”

“You reckless fool!” Fai chided.

Kurogane leapt the rest of the way down, hitting the ground right beside the blonde.

“What were you even doing up there?” the mage continued.

“Surveillance. That thing is incredibly fast, and incredibly smart. I lost sight of it within minutes, and the trail goes every which way when you enter the forest. There’s no way of telling exactly where it went, so I was trying to find a good vantage point.”

“And?”

The ninja shook his head. “Nothing. No matter how high you climb these trees, you can only see darkness all around you.”

Fai placed a hand on his chin, gazing suspiciously at the large trees.

“They don’t want to help us.”

“What?”

“The trees—they don’t want us to find that creature, for some reason,” Fai replied. “If we’re to believe what the townsfolk said, and the trees truly did change Henrich into such a creature, then they likely want him to continue existing in his punishment. They don’t want us to destroy him.”

“You believe these trees are that sentient?” Syaoran asked, respectfully.

“I do. I don’t know what’s happened to this forest, but somehow it’s simply dripping with magic. We’d best be careful not to do anything that might upset it.”

Kurogane and Syaoran exchanged a look, but said nothing more, believing in the mage’s capabilities. The four carefully entered the forest, finding evidence of the creature everywhere. Branches were broken off or hanging limply by a thread, blood was spattered every which way, and some tree trunks even had large and deep gashes in them which slowly seeped a blackish sap.

“How could this forest allow the creature to damage it so much?”

“Seems to me that killing it would help this place.”

“They want him to suffer,” Fai stated. “They know that he’s hurting, and they want it to continue for as long as possible, to make up for his sins.”

“You mean… eating his wife?” Syaoran asked quietly.

“Yeah. They must have considered such an action inexcusable, especially in their presence.”

“But, then, why can’t the trees contain him and stop him from going and doing more inexcusable acts?” Kurogane questioned.

“That’s not their problem. They only care about what happens within their borders.”

“I have to wonder,” Syaoran interjected. “If he was turned into that thing because he committed heinous acts against a human, then why does he only go after livestock now?”

The older two stood in thought, the question hanging unanswered in the air for a good bit of time.

“Well, we still don’t even know that this thing really _is_ Henrich,” the ninja finally began.

“So I believe our first stop should be Henrich’s cabin. If this creature truly is him, then perhaps it went there—home—to treat its injuries,” Fai finished.

“Mokona’s sorry. Mokona only grabbed the map, and not the pictures.”

“That’s all right, Mokona,” Syaoran said, patting the little bun on the head. “I’m sure we’ll be fine without them.”

The journey continued in silence as Fai brought out the map to plan the best route. The mayor had said that it would take about a day to get to Henrich’s cabin, and by now dawn was just peaking over the horizon and they had made good time crossing a great distance. In fact, confusingly, Fai noted that they were likely about halfway there by now. Tracing his eyes along the main road, then following the path that they ran across, Fai noticed something. The road that led to Henrich’s cabin—and also the ruined castle further on—took great pains to stay as far away from the forest as possible until need be.

“Look at this,” Fai stated, showing his companions what he’d found. “The only reason it took so long to get from Henrich’s cabin to the town is because of the way the road was made. If travelers just cut through the fields and the forest like we are, it wouldn’t take anywhere near as long. We’re already about halfway there.”

“Likely it was built that way due to the superstition surrounding the forest,” Kurogane guessed.

“I’m not so sure,” Syaoran exclaimed. “If you think about it, Henrich only ever went into town for supplies, and the mayor only ever went to him with carts and horses full of supplies. Henrich himself rode a horse to go back and forth from the village. It would be pretty difficult fitting horses and carts through the path that we took, and no one ever dared to enter the forest alone like we have. They likely had no idea this shortcut even existed.”

“Gerda wasn’t exactly very forthcoming with this map, either, so that’s probably only adding to the town’s misunderstanding of travel time.”

“Perhaps this is why the townsfolk never imagined the creature could come two nights in a row,” Kurogane stated. “One: That thing is one fast son of a bitch. Two: It doesn’t travel by the main roads and can easily cut through the forest.”

“The sentries never stood a chance…”

“So, then, why has it never really killed anyone before? What made it just start going after humans again now?” Syaoran asked once more, the question truly seeming to bother him.

Fai now understood why that issue was causing Syaoran such concern.

“You think that it has something to do with us,” he stated solemnly.

Syaoran said nothing more, but the answer was written all over his face. Their coming to this world must have triggered something, and now Eallachstead was paying the price.

...

It took only an hour more before the travelers reached Henrich’s cabin—or at least what was left of it. Foliage covered much of the outside, and the roof was almost completely caved in. The brick walls had partially collapsed closer to the roof, as well, leaving the cabin almost completely open to the elements.

“Well, I’d say it’s a good thing we didn’t actually have to stop and stay the night here like we’d planned,” Fai said as he observed another few bricks toppling from their places. “Any one of us could have been woken quite rudely to a face full of stone.”

“This place is completely decimated…” Kurogane noted in amazement. “That thing must definitely have been here before. There’s no way that the place is so run down after only four years.”

“You’re right,” Syaoran stated, looking at the wall around the front door.

Fai and Kurogane came up beside him, Mokona secure in Fai’s cloak, to survey what Syaoran had found. Claw-marks were evident all around the wooden structure, as if something had been trying to get in but couldn’t recall how to open it. The door was hanging slightly ajar, however, meaning that whatever it was had managed to get in at one point.

Readying his crossbow, Fai motioned for Syaoran to pull it open slowly and pointed the weapon at the door. Kurogane stood ready beside him with Ginryuu as Syaoran pulled open the door to reveal… an empty cabin.

Fai relaxed slightly, but didn’t let his guard down completely, and he could tell Kurogane was doing the same. As they entered, they all noted that the interior wasn’t doing much better than the exterior. Everything was strewn about as if someone had gone through and torn the place apart. The walls were littered with gashes and old, dried blood, particularly close to where a table had been overturned.

“This must have been where Belisa—that poor woman…” Fai trailed off.

“Yeah,” Kurogane finished for him. “I think it’s safe to say that the creature’s been here, but I don’t see how we could possibly tell if it’s related to Henrich or not.”

“No, I suppose not…”

“It looks like there’s a bedroom in the back. Maybe we should check there?” Syaoran speculated.

As they entered the bedroom, however, a sense of dread fell over them. The window beside the bed was utterly shattered, shards of glass having fallen all over the floorboards around the area; and on the wall, just above the bed, fresh, dark blood slowly dripped downwards in thin streams from the grotesque sentence that had been painted there…

“H E M A D E M E D O I T”

Fai resisted the urge to gag as the carcass of a cow lay beside the bed covered in flies, a large section of its torso missing. No one had time to comment on the message, however, as a branch suddenly snapped outside.

“Shit! It’s still here!” Kurogane barked, rushing to the side of the window and peering out cautiously. Syaoran did the same on the other side of the window, while Fai crouched low and kept an eye on the door.

“I don’t see it,” the boy whispered, even as he continued to scan the forest around the cabin.

In the late morning sun, shadows reflected off the trees like rivers of darkness spilling onto the yard surrounding the structure. Kurogane said nothing at the brunette’s concerned comment, watching the tree line intently. A loud bang close to the front door caught everyone’s attention, and Fai was there in an instant, shooting a bolt through the wooden frame. He grew slightly more unnerved when he didn’t hear it connect with anything. Another bang came from the wall to their left, followed by what sounded like knives scraping across the bricks ominously.

The creature was toying with them.

“Damn it!” the ninja seethed. “ _We’re_ the ones hunting _it_!”

“It doesn’t seem to think that!” Fai added, narrowly avoiding a brick that fell from the collapsing wall beside him. “We can’t stay in here.”

“It’s the only cover we’ve got!”

“It could also be used against us! We’re _not_ the ones with the advantage here, Kurogane!”

Kurogane started back at Fai’s scolding, knowing the mage was correct, but also not wanting to lose their only refuge from the forest—the creature’s true habitat. A loud shuffling came from above them, and the four travelers looked up…

…only to realize in absolute horror that the creature was staring down at them, crouched over a part of the roof that hadn’t yet collapsed.

Mokona screamed, and even Syaoran let out a small cry of dismay, bringing up his sword. Fai wasted no time pointing his crossbow at the creature, but it leapt out of sight in an instant. The force of the creature’s leap sent that particular section of the roof collapsing down, however, which in turn caused even more of the walls to begin caving in.

“We have to get out! NOW!” yelled Fai as both he and Kurogane threw themselves over Syaoran to shield him as they ran.

The four soon found themselves on the grass outside, coughing as the dust settled around them. Turning back towards the cottage, Fai was surprised to see that it was still halfway standing, but the entrance was now completely destroyed.

“Where did it go?” Kurogane huffed, still coughing and waving a hand through the air in an attempt to dispel some of the dust.

The travelers got into a defensive formation, back-to-back with weapons drawn, trying desperately to catch any glimpse of where the creature might have gone while the earth settled around them once more. Fai’s eyes landed on a nearby tree, its giant trunk marred by a symbol that had only just been etched. An arrow pointing further south stared back at him, slowly seeping black sap. The other two quickly noticed it as well and their formation broke as they went to investigate, even though their weapons remained drawn.

“You don’t think…” Fai began.

“I do,” Kurogane stated immediately. “It’s leading us somewhere.”

Syaoran gazed in the direction that the arrow was pointing, the woods growing thicker as he noticed another tree further in with the same arrow pointing in the same direction.

“And the only place further south from here is…”

“The lord’s castle.”

“I don’t get it,” Fai said in frustration. “One of these bolts was enough to take down a giant worm in Acid Tokyo, and yet that creature has taken two and seems to be barely hindered!”

“You said yourself that this forest is magical,” Syaoran supplied. “Maybe that has something to do with it?”

“Or maybe that thing is just hardier than it looks,” Kurogane stated before beginning to walk in the direction the arrow was pointing. “We’ll follow these for now, but keep your weapons at the ready.”

Fai and Syaoran nodded, heading in the same direction.

…

The group began to see signs of castle ruins about two hours into their journey. Arrow-markings consistently guided them, becoming more and more frequent as they continued. By the time they saw the first dilapidated watchtower, nearly every tree surrounding them was leaking dark sap around a hastily scrawled arrow. The smell of said sap was nearly overpowering, but the travelers pressed on.

“According to the map,” Fai began, his mouth and nose partially covered by one of his fluffy sleeves, “there should be another watchtower around here somewhere, too, and a path leading to the main entrance.”

“Fai-san! Kurogane-san!” Syaoran called, his voice quivering. “I think I found the main road…”

The two older companions rushed towards the gap in the trees that Syaoran was peering through, and Fai’s stomach rolled as Mokona yelped and hid deeper into his cloak.

The road was covered in animal carcasses and bones; there was hardly a spot where one couldn’t be seen. Some looked recent, while some looked like they’d been there at least a year, and Kurogane was instantly on edge.

“I’d say we’ve definitely found its nest,” he said, making sure Ginryuu was ready for action. “It must have been leading us so that it wouldn’t have to drag us here itself. The demons of Nihon used to do the same thing; they would trick travelers into following them into a secluded area and then…”

Fai placed a reassuring hand on the ninja’s shoulder.

“Stop thinking like that,” he said. “It’s like you said. We’re hunting it, not the other way around.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Syaoran whispered, his voice barely audible as he gazed wide-eyed towards the castle that now loomed ahead of them.

The others followed his line of sight, and saw their quarry perched on the very wall of the castle’s exterior, a few stories above what appeared to be the main entrance. It was staring at them with such an intensity that they found themselves unable to look away. After a few moments the creature began to skulk across the side of the building slowly, keeping its eyes on the travelers as if circling them, before it placed its long, spindly arms on the side of a broken window and propelled itself inside.

“That thing…” the ninja spoke lowly, “has a lot of nerve if it thinks it can make prey out of _us_.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s been doing that ever since we entered the forest, Kurogane-san,” Syaoran stated, still staring at the window the creature disappeared through.

For a moment, Fai found his gaze fixed on the large, intact window just off to the right of where the creature had entered, a shiver running down his spine at the overwhelming feeling of suddenly being watched; but the feeling was gone as quickly as it came.

“We can’t just follow it in there,” the blonde concluded. “That’s obviously what it wants, and who knows what else is in there with it. There could be more of them for all we know.”

“I agree,” Kurogane said, though it sounded like he was still trying to convince himself. “But we’re already here. And we won’t make it back to the village before nightfall even if we start to head back now. We’d just be asking for that thing to stalk us all the way back.”

“You can’t seriously be thinking that attacking it _in its lair_ is better than our chances fighting it in the forest?” Fai asked incredulously. “I just said that anything could be in there!”

“I know, mage, but we also could have faced anything when we made our move against Fei Wang Reed, and here we are still alive!”

“Barely!” Fai fumed between his teeth. “In case you didn’t notice, throughout that entire journey I lost an eye—not to mention my own humanity—you lost an arm, Watanuki-kun lost Yuuko-san, an entire world was completely eradicated from existence, time itself was bent backwards, and _two very, very good people gave up their souls just so that we could keep going_!”

The mage was nearly in tears as he stared at the ninja in disbelief.

“Or have you forgotten the reason why we’re on this quest in the first place?”

“That’s **enough**.”

Fai and Kurogane both started in shock, turning to face the brunette who had just chastised them.

“I’m sure Kurogane-san remembers, Fai-san. All of us remember,” the boy stated, staring his companions in the eye. “For a while now, I’ve been afraid of this creature simply because it’s unlike anything we’ve ever faced before, but Kurogane-san is right. We’re already here and we can’t afford to let this thing go now. Just because we haven’t seen anything like it before doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable.”

Syaoran turned towards the castle entrance, his eyes shining in determination.

“We go in cautiously, as a group. By no means are we to split up in any way. We find the creature, finish it, then return to the village.”

Stunned and immensely proud of how his charge had suddenly taken control of the situation, Kurogane made to stand beside him.

“Right. Sound plan, kid,” he stated, turning to regard his lover who was still staring at him with a look of disapproval. “Does it work for you, mage?”

Fai looked about ready to cut one of the gigantic trees in half, but quickly calmed himself and let out a deep breath. He still didn’t particularly like the situation, but he understood the logic of his companions.

“Of course. Syaoran-kun, it is a sound plan. As long as we stay together, nothing can take us by surprise in there.”

He joined the other two as Mokona peeked their head out of his cloak.

“It might be best for you to stay outside, Mokona,” Syaoran said as the tiny being jumped into his arms.

“No! Mokona is coming, too! Mokona will stay with Syaoran and make sure nothing bad happens!”

“You do that, manjuu bun,” Kurogane agreed, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “It would be useful in case we need to call on that shop owner.”

With that, Mokona burrowed into Syaoran’s cloak and the three walked up to the large castle doors, which were in as bad of a state as the rest of the castle. Like at Henrich’s cabin, nature had mostly taken over, and the doors hung on their hinges as vines covered them from top to bottom as if eating them whole. This allowed the travelers to enter without much of a hassle, and they were immediately in formation, ready for whatever the creature had in store for them.

The entrance hall was nothing too remarkable, aside from the state it was in. Everything was in disarray from the overturned furniture to the paintings that looked as though they’d been flung off the walls. If there had been gashes in the walls, the group wouldn’t have been able to tell since the walls were made of stone, but the shredded hanging tapestries told them enough. As they reached a staircase leading upwards, a nauseating stench nearly downed them. Kurogane tried his best not to think of exactly what the stench reminded him of, and only held on a little tighter to the mage’s arm. If Fai minded, he certainly didn’t show it as he pressed closer to the ninja himself.

Not a word was spoken among the group as they ascended as stealthily as possible, knowing the creature was somewhere above them—waiting for them. At the top of the staircase was a long hallway filled to the brim with rotting wooden furniture and shreds of fabric clinging to the walls. There was not a sound but the wind echoing through the breaks in the stone, and the others found it to be rather unnervingly quiet for what it was they were hunting. Deciding to try one of the larger nearby doors, Syaoran found that it led to a grand ballroom of sorts. Large chandeliers filled with long burnt-out candlesticks dotted the ceiling, and the stone tile beneath their feet had been decorated with what appeared to be colored marble depicting works of art that must have been worth a great deal of gold. Truly, this castle was built with not only protection, but also luxury in mind. Dust covered nearby tables that had been covered in cloth, and a lone chair—presumably that of the lord—sat at the head of the room, overlooking the dance floor.

Another door with a staircase leading up called to the group from the far corner of the room, to the left of the lord’s chair, and they began to make their way towards it. A creak above them, however, had them all looking back up towards the chandeliers.

The beady eyes of the creature stared back down at them.

With a screech, it released its hold on the ceiling and plummeted towards the group.

Cursing at the fact that they had no other option, Kurogane pushed Syaoran and Fai in opposite directions and shouted, “Scatter!”

Not seconds after the three had broken formation, the creature crashed into the floor right where they had all been standing, its claws scraping against the marble décor of the floor and creating a high-pitched note that had all of them clamping their hands over their ears. The thing lunged at Syaoran first, as the boy was the closest, but he parried its claws with his blade. The creature was incredibly strong, however, and Syaoran found himself falling backwards with a cry at the impact.

“Syaoran!” Fai yelled in concern, instantly imbuing his crossbow with fire magic as he aimed it.

As he fired, he came to terms with the fact that there was no bringing a human back from this. If the creature truly was Henrich, all they could do was try to put an end to his curse by ending his life instead. The bolt hit the creature in the arm, then exploded into flames. The creature screamed in agony as Kurogane moved to slice straight through it with Ginryuu, surprised when his blade could barely even cut through its skin. A large tear ran down the creature’s back where Ginryuu had sliced it, but it was nowhere near enough to finish it off.

Fai hurriedly readied another crossbow bolt, this time with frost magic to see if that would cause more damage to the creature, when he suddenly felt something off around him. Pausing, he noticed the environment shift and felt as though some sort of presence stood beside him, everywhere at once yet unseen. His breath quickened and a thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead. Whatever this entity was, his companions couldn’t feel it, and they were shouting at him to fire another bolt.

“Fai-san! What’s wrong?!” Syaoran yelled, pinned by the creature and using all of his strength to push the claws away with his blade.

“Mage! Now would be a good time to shoot!” Kurogane added, tearing Ginryuu through the creature’s side and succeeding in removing it from Syaoran’s person.

The boy got up hastily, head whipping in Fai’s direction. “Fai-san!”

By now, Fai’s eyes were wide and his breath came in small gasps.

“Syao… ran…. Kuro… There’s a… hand on my… neck—”

The mage could say no more, however, as the unseen force around him suddenly propelled him backwards, throwing him through the door at the far corner that they had originally been moving towards.

“Fai!” the mage heard his companions scream frantically.

He landed on his back on the staircase leading further upwards, the wind knocked out of him as he coughed and struggled to take a breath. The hand he had felt gripping his neck and throat had loosened, and the presence was gone, but the door leading back into the ballroom had been slammed shut. Still wheezing, Fai tried desperately to open the door once more, hearing the sounds of battle from the other side.

“Syaoran!” Fai coughed as he pounded on the door. “Kurogane!”

His cries received no response, however, as he could still hear his companions trying to gain the upper hand against the creature they were facing. Feeling useless, he began to ready a spell in an attempt to blast the door open himself, when he suddenly felt the overwhelming presence of the entity once more, and froze in place. As if his magic were suddenly nullified, he lowered his arms and turned towards the dark staircase that spiraled upwards. By all accounts there was no other sound around him other than what he could hear beyond the door, but he still heard it anyway—a voice that seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once:

**_Come._ **


	5. Part IV

Fai’s left hand slid across the smooth stone of the wall, while his right waved away a cobweb. He wasn’t sure exactly where in the castle he was, or how long he’d been going up the dark, spiraling staircase, but he was sure that what he was looking for—whatever it was that had been calling him—would be at the top. Distantly, he could recall that his friends needed his help. They were locked in battle with a fearsome creature somewhere down below him, but his legs were moving completely on their own, and for some reason he found himself unable to properly understand that he needed to leave; he _needed_ to go back and help them.

It was somewhat frightening, walking up those stairs. He was almost certain that the sights he was seeing must have been similar to what his brother must have seen during his last few moments of freedom, before they threw him into the room at the very top of the tower and locked the door, never to return again. The thought made him recoil, but something stirred in him—something that told him he had to reach the top no matter what. Maybe… maybe his brother was there. Maybe he was the one waiting for him—calling his name ever so softly.

**_Come, mage._ **

The magician heard the call, even through the thick blanket of silence that hung over the decrepit staircase, and he followed.

There, a light! At last, Fai had reached the top. There was an old wooden door—open, with the doorway beckoning him to come forward. The mage hurried towards it, but stopped in his tracks. A figure stood within the doorway, suddenly blocking the light. It stood tall, eyes boring into his soul like embers, and Fai shrank back.

It was _not_ his brother.

“At last, we meet.”

Fai had never wanted to run more so than in that moment, but his feet were for some reason firmly planted to the floor. When the figure spoke, it sounded nothing like the soft tone that he had heard calling him up the stairwell, but rather more like a guttural rumble. Something glinted in the figure’s mouth, and Fai knew instantly that they were fangs. The being before him was a vampire.

“Please, enter,” the deep, grating voice commanded.

To Fai’s dismay, his legs obeyed and he followed the figure into the room. The room was a study of sorts, and it looked to be in much better condition than the rest of the castle. Bookcases lined the walls, filled with tomes and volumes; a delicately crafted crimson rug covered the floor; and a large desk strewn with papers, quills, and inkwells lay at the end of the room, a chaise longue placed beside it, backed by a large window that overlooked the courtyard—the very same window that Fai had felt an eerie feeling towards after the four travelers had encountered the creature earlier.

_So, there had actually been something there…_

“You’ll have to forgive my servant Henrich; he so rarely has a chance to fully express his violent nature.”

Fai gasped at the mention of Henrich’s name, but any immediate inquiry fled his mind when the vampire was illuminated by the light streaming in through the large window. His skin was as gray as ash, and his eyes were a cold, sunken yellow with vertical slit pupils. He had long, dark black hair that neatly flowed around his face, but that was about the only part of him that could be considered orderly. Indeed, he hardly even looked like a human with his bones sticking out at odd angles, skin stretched over them with wrinkles that spoke volumes of how old he must have been. On his forehead, two small spikes had grown just above his eyes, and through his long cloak the mage could see a protrusion that insinuated there was also something stemming from his back.

“Your servant?” Fai finally asked, his voice quivering slightly as he tried to figure out why he was still in that room and not rushing back to help his companions.

“Indeed, my servant. This is my castle, after all, as I am the last of the Yorgun bloodline,” the vampire responded, looking the blonde up and down as if trying to discern something. “My name is Betrund Yorgun.”

“The last of the…” Fai tried to comprehend. “But the last of the bloodline died of illness hundreds of years ago.”

The vampire tore his gaze from Fai, looking away from him as if attempting to recall something he had long forgotten.

“Yes. Yes, I was, in fact, terribly ill a long time ago… So very long ago…”

“A vampire found you?” Fai questioned, trying to make sense of the situation.

“Quite so,” the lord replied, his attention shifting back to the blonde as he drew near, circling him slowly. “Or, at least, he may have been a vampire. I don’t entirely recall. All I know is that he said he could save me. He fancied himself some sort of vampire expert, and said that if I drank the tiny vial of vampire blood that he was able to collect from some pair of vampire twins, I would live.”

“Vampire twins?” Fai breathed. “Seishirou…”

“Ah, that may have been his name. As I said, I don’t recall. It has been hundreds of years after all. All that I can truly remember is that he had one completely blank eye.”

Fai eyed the vampire warily as he considered the validity of the tale. He supposed it didn’t surprise him that Seishirou had been able to travel hundreds of years into this world’s past; after all, their group had done the same in Shura. But still, to be going around creating vampires…

“I must say, I was expecting someone quite powerful, but you have exceeded all of my expectations,” Betrund stated, seeming to have completed his examination of the mage. “I’m glad I took the time to place such precautions before sending Henrich out to fetch you.”

“Henrich?” Fai spoke, at last able to speak with a bit more clarity. “What have you done?!”

The vampire simply regarded Fai with a look that made him feel very much like prey in the presence of a predator.

“You would be surprised at just how powerful several hundred years can make a vampire. I was already quite powerful even before I became one, but now it’s almost child’s play to learn a new spell… such as the ability to _enthrall_.”

Fai’s eyes went wide as he observed the vampire in front of him.

“Powerful before… You’re a mage?”

“How perceptive of you to finally take notice. Yes, I dabbled in the magic artes enough to understand many spells, but this transformation has gifted me with power beyond imagination. My presence exists within every inch of this castle; there is nowhere I cannot reach within its borders. And now that I’ve had Henrich etch a few special runes here and there within the walls, I’ve even been able to enthrall another incredibly powerful mage.”

Fai gazed furiously up at the vampire, finally realizing why he couldn’t bring himself to leave the room—why he had even gone up that staircase in the first place. Thinking quickly, he understood that no matter what sort of spell the vampire had woven, there was always a way for it to be broken; he simply had to stall for time until he could figure out the best method.

“Why are you doing this? What’s your game?”

Betrund let out what must have been a laugh, but to Fai it sounded more like a low growl.

“My game?” he countered, placing a large, clawed hand on Fai’s back and leading him further into the room and away from the door. “How interesting that you should mention that, considering what exactly my ‘savior’ did when he changed me. He did indeed feed me a vial of the vampire blood he had—despite my disapproval—but only after he had mixed it in with cow’s blood. When I awoke from the change, he made certain to inform me that humans would never satisfy me, and I could only ever drink the blood of cows and other livestock if I wanted to survive.”

Fai grimaced, recalling that there was practically no limit to Seishirou’s madness, and such an experiment sounded exactly like something he may try.

“But why did you enthrall Henrich? What did you do to him?”

The vampire paused in the middle of the room, hand still pressed against Fai’s back. Tensely, the mage could feel the offending limb shaking, and redoubled his efforts to find a way to break his spell.

“Henrich is a special case. For so very long I did just as I was meant to. Even after my servants left because I had ‘died’—even after I turned into the thing you see before you—I continued to protect this land from any kind of bandits or savage animals that came upon it. As payment, I merely helped myself to their livestock every now and again. That village was none the wiser, electing a silly _mayor_ to rule in my place and not even realizing that they still had a lord.

“When Henrich built his cabin not too far from here, I saw an opportunity. I was getting quite lonely, and wanted to test out my powers on a human rather than a simple creature. After I severed much of his trust with the village, it took little hassle for me to turn the man into my thrall. To ensure his loyalty, my first command was for him to feast upon his unsuspecting wife to whom he had only ever shown undying devotion. You can imagine my surprise when, after he had done so, the dark magic of the forest placed its own curse upon him. I had, of course, known that the trees held sorcery of some kind within them, but to turn a human being into something like _that_ is simply incredible.

“Months of dedicated research led me to believe that the forest was punishing his glutton for human flesh by forcing upon him an undying bloodlust that will persist until the end of time itself. To my delight, however, due to the fact that he was my thrall before being turned into such a thing, he has remained as such; and I’ve simply been sending him to retrieve my livestock ever since.”

“Murderer,” Fai spat, finding the strength to dislodge the vampire’s hand from his back. “That thing has been terrorizing the village! It killed all of the sentries last night!”

“Oh, I know,” Betrund stated unapologetically, looking slightly displeased at Fai’s sudden defiance. “But how many people did he kill before that? One, and only because I ordered him to. Henrich is _my thrall_ , and I ordered him to eat only livestock, not humans like that cursed forest wants him to. Now, if ever I were to lose my control over him, he would certainly tear that village and all of its inhabitants apart; but I am nothing if not merciful, and have kept him duly contained.”

“They won’t thank you for it,” Fai continued, hoping that his furious tone could hide the fact that he was beginning to form a spell of his own. “They don’t even know you exist, so why go through with all this? Why did you have Henrich kill the sentries last night?”

“I’ve told you that answer already,” Betrund said, grasping Fai’s left arm harshly.

Fai cried out as he felt the bone crack and the spell he had been forming was abruptly cut off.

“I made an exception for last night only, and ordered him to bring me something very special by any means necessary—something I have been preparing for since the moment I sensed it enter this world: another vampire mage. _You_.”

“You’re… out of luck,” Fai gasped with a wince as he struggled. “I’m no longer… a vampire.”

“But of course you are,” Betrund stated as he looked straight into the blonde’s eyes. “I’ve spent a great deal of time studying magic and vampires, and found that no matter how much magic you have, it can never drown out the fact that you still have vampire’s blood flowing through your veins. To me, the swirling essence of two such potent energies combining into one is… quite tempting. It’s been such a long time since my last vampire—even longer since I’ve had one with magic—and I’ve been yearning to taste that exquisite power once more.”

Finally understanding just what it was that Betrund wanted from him, Fai tried desperately to look away from the vampire’s haunting eyes.

“You drink from _your own kind_?”

The lord frowned harshly.

“My own kind? Didn’t I just tell you that I disapproved of the transformation from the start? Despite the sheer power and immortality I’ve been granted, I have no love for either my ‘savior’ or _my own kind_. The few that I’ve met throughout the years can attest to this, since none of them have made it out of my castle alive. When I found myself at one point hungrily drinking from one of them, I discovered that I must be a special case because I _thoroughly enjoyed it_. No other blood has the ability to grant me such power as the blood of a vampire—in specific, the blood of a vampire mage.”

Fai could tell now why the vampire must have turned into such a grotesque thing. No matter the circumstances, he was going against the cards fate had dealt him… and now he was paying the price. The blonde let out a slight noise as Betrund pushed him into the cushions of the chaise longue beside the desk, his arm throbbing in pain.

“You don’t have to worry,” the lord stated, his yellow eyes circled in a deep gold that seemed to pull Fai deeper and deeper into their depths. “I’ve ordered Henrich to end your companions quickly; and with how deeply my spell is affecting you right now, you won’t even feel a thing…”

Fai barely had any time to comprehend what had been said before he could feel sharp teeth sinking into his neck.

…

To say that Kurogane and Syaoran were exhausted would have been an understatement. Since Fai’s mysterious disappearance, they had continued battle with the creature in an attempt to gain the upper hand, but to no avail. Kurogane wanted nothing more than to run to the door that his lover had vanished behind, but the creature was showing no signs of slowing down, and he could feel a weariness deep within his bones that he had rarely ever felt before.

_Is this… how Father felt? When that demon overpowered him… Is this how it happened?_

Kurogane shook the thought from his mind. They _would_ prevail. He couldn’t start having these thoughts now—not when he also had a mage to go find as soon as they wrapped things up here. Glancing back towards the door, he noticed that the mage had, in fact, not kept hold of the crossbow when he had been thrown backwards. Turning his attention back to the fight, he saw that the creature was momentarily distracted by a series of blows from Syaoran, and used that to his advantage. Diving quickly to obtain the weapon, he found a few bolts scattered about and grabbed one, hastily locking it into the chamber.

With a new resolve that told him this would end _now_ , Kurogane ran back towards the fight, where the creature was beginning to overpower the brunette once more. A deep, bloody gash was torn through Syaoran’s left thigh, but he was still remaining upright and making a valiant effort to stave off any further injuries.

Taking a deep breath, Kurogane lashed out with Ginryuu to pin the creature as best he could, then used his other hand to raise the crossbow. He fired the bolt directly into the creature’s side, lamenting the fact that he couldn’t reach the heart from his position and praying that it would be enough. From what he could tell, his hastily constructed plan worked. There had been enough force behind the bolt to cause the creature to rear back, screeching loudly in pain and grasping at the metal in an attempt to pull it out from where it had been deeply lodged. Seeing that it couldn’t remove the offending item, the creature let out another high-pitched shriek before crashing through a nearby window.

Kurogane quickly covered Syaoran’s body with his own as glass flew in every direction. Thankfully, the brunt of the shards had been flung outwards rather than in, but the ninja could still feel a few small pieces dig into his back. Once the assault had ended, he rushed to the window, looking out at where the creature had just leapt down two stories. He only had just enough time to see it disappear behind the tree line to the right of the main road, and he cursed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! How resilient is that thing?”

“Maybe it’s—unh,” Syaoran began, grunting and crouching to the floor to take the weight off his injured leg. “Maybe it’s heading off to die?”

“No, it’s injured,” Kurogane responded, crouching beside the boy to examine his wound, “but with how quickly it was moving it wasn’t near hurt enough to be killed. We let it get away again! Damn it!”

Syaoran was silent, but the grave look in his eyes clearly showed his concern for the village now that they had allowed the creature to escape. He was quite obviously dismayed by their failure, but moved to get up anyway.

“We have to find Fai-san,” the boy said, struggling to limp to the nearby door. “There’s no telling what happened, but I felt something strange when he was pushed behind that door. Kurogane-san, I think Fai was right. I don’t think that creature was alone here.”

“Yeah, the mage is usually right,” Kurogane sighed, running a hand through his short black locks. “But you’re not going anywhere, kid, not like that. Sit back down.”

“Kurogane-san! We can’t afford to waste any more time! Ugh!” Syaoran yelped in pain as the collapsed back down onto the floor.

The ninja was at his side in an instant, using a few strips he tore from his cloak to bind the boy’s leg as best he could. Mokona pat Syaoran’s cheek affectionately, trying to help him through the pain.

“I’m going to go after the mage,” Kurogane stated as he finished off the makeshift bandage with a tight knot. “You stay here and rest. You have to keep off that leg; that thing got you pretty good. Cream puff, make sure he doesn’t move, got it?”

“Got it!” Mokona responded.

Kurogane crossed the room in record time, making it to the door Fai had been thrown through. Finding it locked, he wasted no time in slashing the wood to pieces with Ginryuu, and began to head up the staircase.

…

A desert city appeared in front of Fai. Not deserted, he was certain—simply situated within the desert. In fact, the city was teeming with life. Children played in the streets, vendors shouted about discounts on their wares, and a princess clad in a soft pink robe pulled a blushing young man up an enormous flight of stairs leading to a grand palace.

_Ah, that’s Sakura! And Syaoran!_ Fai smiled to himself.

He watched the two run happily along; sometimes Sakura would take the lead, urging Syaoran to go faster, and sometimes the boy would overtake her by bounding up several steps at a time, much to her chagrin. They were both laughing merrily, seeming to look quite a few years older than when Fai had seen them last.

_How strange… When did we make it back to the Kingdom of Clow anyway?_

Moving closer to the two in an attempt to get their attention, Fai began to hear bits and pieces of their conversation.

“It’s almost too good to be true—having such wonderful weather the day before our wedding!” Sakura chirped as she twirled around.

_The day before— When did he even propose?! How could he keep this from Kuro-sama and I?!_ Fai laughed to himself, joy overtaking him at the mention of the two young lovebirds finally tying the knot.

“It is, it’s just…” Syaoran agreed, his voice growing quieter. “I wish Fai-san could be here for it, too.”

Sakura’s smile withered, and she took both of Syaoran’s hands in her own.

“I know. It wasn’t your fault, Syaoran-kun. You told me everything there is to tell—you and Kurogane-san could never have made it in time to save him.”

She gazed into the young man’s eyes sorrowfully, while Fai gazed on in confusion.

_What are you talking about?_

“He and… he and Kurogane-san were planning a wedding, too, you know. Fai-san told me about it several years ago. As soon as your journey ended and we could all be together again, they were going to have a grand ceremony in Nihon. He said that he couldn’t wait until Kurogane-san could see what Tomoyo-hime was making for him: a wedding kimono so luxurious that he was sure to make any and all other brides jealous!”

The princess laughed, but it came out as more of a sob.

“But he also said that I would be the only exception, because he was sure that I was going to be the most beautiful bride any world has ever known…”

Upon saying this, the princess finally allowed her tears to fall, and Syaoran wrapped his arms around her, placing her head into his shoulder as she sobbed.

“It isn’t fair! I saw everything, Syaoran! It’s why I made the decisions that I did! I should have seen that, too! I—,” she hiccupped. “I should have seen that, too… Why didn’t I see it? I should have been able to warn you!”

They stood there a little while longer, Sakura wailing quietly into Syaoran’s clothing, while the boy himself allowed a few tears to fall into her hair. After a short time, Sakura pulled away, wiping her face with her sleeves.

“We shouldn’t be too long. Kurogane-san has just arrived, and he’s expecting us. We haven’t seen him in so long, Syaoran-kun. We can’t allow this to be the first thing he sees.”

Syaoran nodded, wiping his own face.

“Of course,” he agreed, taking one of Sakura’s hands into his own. “I’m sure that’s what Fai-san would want, too.”

Together, the two walked hand-in-hand up the rest of the stairs and disappeared beyond the front entrance of the palace, while Fai remained frozen in place.

_I understand. Then, this is the future. How strange that I’ve never been able to see it quite so clearly until now… I guess that just means I’m closer to death than I’ve ever been…_

_Is this really how it ends for me? After all that’s happened—everything my companions did to keep me alive—this is how I go?_

_No._

_NO._

****

_I refuse to believe it._

_I decided a long time ago that I won’t be the cause of any further sorrow._

**_This will not be my end._ **

****

****

****

Betrund let out a cry of shock as a force suddenly threw him from his prey. Two crooked, pointed wings tore through the back of his cloak as he spun around in the air and landed in a crouched position, frantically searching for the reason behind the attack, but all he could see was the blonde mage rising from the chaise longue while holding his right hand against his badly bleeding neck. Around him swarmed the bright tendrils of his magical scripts, twirling about the entirety of the room in a whirlwind of chaos.

“Not possible! I spent an entire month readying this castle so that you would be susceptible to my spells! I’m not about to let that go to waste!”

Chanting a small incantation, the vampire shot a binding spell in Fai’s direction, and nearly cried out in dismay when it fizzled out before it had even gotten halfway to the other mage.

“You think your magic is powerful just because you caught me off guard?” the blonde asked, in a way that implied he wasn’t interested in hearing the answer. “You don’t even know the true weight behind your actions! You rule these people in secret, deploying your creature to destroy and feast upon their prized livestock, and you think because you hold off a few bandits and wild animals that what you’re doing is _just_?”

Books and papers twirled around the room as if dancing with Fai’s magical inscriptions, a few hitting Betrund as he frantically searched for a way to regain control.

“Of course it’s just! What about what’s been done to _me_? You honestly think I wanted to turn into this thing?!”

“Those vampires you murdered—did they offer you help?”

“And why would I accept help from them?! Why would I ever accept help from the bloodsuckers that turned me into this?! The first one I met offered me her blood out of pity for my situation. _Pity_. From one of them! _I sucked her dry_.”

Fai shoved a bookcase in his direction.

“Then what you see in the mirror is what you did to yourself!” he berated. “Rather than accepting their help to grow you turned them into your pawns, just like Henrich—just like all those villagers!”

The vampire blocked the bookcase easily with one of his hands, his bloody fangs snarling in Fai’s direction.

At that moment, the door burst open, revealing a very out-of-breath Kurogane holding Ginryuu in one hand and Fai’s crossbow in the other.

“What—?!”

Taking advantage of Betrund’s momentary distraction, Fai surged forward with a speed even Kurogane couldn’t keep up with and plunged long, claw-like nails straight into the other vampire’s chest. The last Yorgun lord didn’t even have time to react before the blonde ripped his heart from his body.

Panting heavily, Fai withdrew his nails and dispersed his magic. Kurogane tried to keep his composure as he rushed to the mage’s side, books falling down around him.

“Fai!” he called, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder, reeling at how much blood was pouring from the other man’s neck. “What the hell—what was that thing?”

“Syaoran? Where is Syaoran?” Fai gasped, recalling Betrund’s threats coupled with the fact that Kurogane would never leave the boy behind.

“He’s fine. Injured, but fine. He’s downstairs—”

Before Kurogane could get another word out, Fai was pushing past him and descending the long flight of stairs.

“Syaoran!” he called out as he reached the bottom and practically dove through the broken doorway back into the ballroom.

Upon seeing the boy staring back up at him, wounded but alive, he sagged to the floor in relief as Kurogane reentered the ballroom behind him.

“Fai-san!”

“You’re okay!”

“I’m okay?” Fai laughed breathily, still holding his right hand against his bleeding neck. “ _You’re_ okay. And Mokona’s okay. And Kuro- Kuro-sama’s okay…”

Fai nearly toppled over, but the ninja was quick to catch him.

“Fai! The hell happened up there? What happened to your neck?! And your arm?!”

Kurogane was already in the process of using more strips torn from his cloak to bind the mage’s throat.

“Ah, it would seem… that he still had his fangs in my neck when I pushed him away… Looks like he took a bit of a chunk with him…”

“Fangs? Was that thing a vampire?”

“Yes, he was… using his power to make Henrich his thrall… Henrich? Where is he?”

Fai glanced around the ballroom, searching for the creature’s body.

“You mean that creature? It really was Henrich?”

“I’m sorry, Fai-san. We tried our best, but it escaped. We’re not sure where it went.”

Fai nearly stopped breathing right then and there.

“Still alive?” he gasped, clutching at his lover desperately. “Henrich’s still alive?!”

“Calm down! Mage, you’re pale as a ghost! How much blood have you lost? We need to get you to a doctor!”

“No, no, Kurogane, you need to go!”

“What?”

“Now, NOW!” Fai urged, his voice breaking slightly. “You have to get to the village!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I killed— ** _I just killed the one thing stopping Henrich from destroying everyone in that village!_** Kurogane, leave me here! You have to go help them!”

“Like hell I’m leaving you like this! Mage, I know you don’t like to do this anymore, but you need to drink, then you can explain this to us a bit better.”

Kurogane was about to cut his wrist when Fai weakly latched onto it.

“No! Please… PLEASE, Kurogane, you have to go save them!”

“Kurogane-san!”

Kurogane found his attention torn between the two of his companions as he heard Syaoran’s cry, but was also desperately attempting to keep the mage from bleeding out in front of him. Only when he saw more color drain from his lover’s face as the blonde looked in Syaoran’s direction did Kurogane spare a quick glance—and found his gaze utterly transfixed on the small white being in the boy’s lap.

Mokona’s earring was glowing.

“No, no, please, Mokona! Mokona, don’t!” Fai strained, weakly reaching for the creature. “We can’t—we can’t just leave these people! Not after what I’ve just done! Mokona, please, stop!”

Mokona began to softly cry at Fai’s distressed pleading.

“Mokona’s sorry, Fai! Mokona can’t stop!”

Kurogane cursed as he pressed Fai against his chest and moved closer to Syaoran, ensuring that all three of them were together. Fai was struggling weakly, and the ninja’s heart broke at the feeling of Fai’s tears against his chest. He had hoped that, after Celes, he would never have to see Fai in such a state again. He only had a moment to ponder just what was bringing the mage to such hysterics before Mokona’s mouth opened wide and they were transported once more through space and time.

The trip this time was short, and they soon found themselves deposited onto the soft, green grass of a world they knew quite well. Fai only caught a quick glimpse of a young man in glasses wearing a long, flowing kimono before he collapsed into the ninja’s arms in a dead faint.

…

Fai awoke to the strong scent of incense. Opening his eyes slowly, he watched the thin wisps of sage-smoke waft through the tranquil air above him.

_Of course, fate would bring us here of all places._

He sat up from where he lay on a pristine bed, not even bothering to glance beyond the thin veil of the canopy that hung over him. He already knew who was on the other side.

“I condemned everyone in that village, didn’t I, Watanuki-kun?”

Another waft of smoke blew out from behind the thin fabric, but only silence followed. Fai reached up to feel the bandage across his neck.

“Kurogane and Syaoran have never failed before. Never,” he continued. “When I saw Kurogane burst through the door, I just… I thought…”

His fingers tightened around the cloth weaved about his throat, as more feelings of anger and guilt began to consume him. A soft hand was placed above his own.

“You shouldn’t do that,” the shopkeeper said, gently removing Fai’s grip. “Kurogane-san gave up quite a good bit of blood to save you. You were already nearly gone by the time you’d arrived.”

“Did you see what I saw?” Fai asked, finding his lap to be more appealing to look at than the one with whom he was conversing.

The young man looked startled at first, then turned back around to resume his stance at the side of the bed.

“You mean the vision?” he responded. “I did. I’m the one who sent it to you.”

Fai gaped at the shopkeeper. “You—what?!”

“There is someone whose wish was for you to live, and if I hadn’t intervened, then you would have bled out before Kurogane-san or Syaoran-kun could reach you. Then Kurogane-san would have nearly given his own life by using his blood to try to bring you back, and he would never have been the same afterwards.”

The blonde bit his lip nearly deep enough to draw blood.

“And are you the one who activated Mokona’s ability, too, and transferred us here?”

There was another deep pause as Watanuki drew in another breath through his pipe, letting it out with a thin puff of aromatic smoke.

“I am.”

Fai clenched the sheets bunched within his lap, “Whose wish was it?”

“I cannot say,” Watanuki replied, rising from his position to obtain something from a nearby end table. “All that I can say is that this was the agreed-upon price.”

Within his hands was the map the group had been using to navigate the forest.

“But that’s… How can that map pay such a price?”

The shopkeeper placed the map back onto the end table, his hand lingering on the parchment forlornly.

“It depicts a village that no longer exists.”

A quiet stillness descended upon the room, one occupant absorbing the horrific implications of the information he’d just been given while the other patiently waited in understanding. After a minute, the young man turned, his silk kimono rustling gracefully as he began to head towards the door leading out to a nearby hallway.

“I am truly sorry, Fai-san,” he stated sorrowfully before pulling the sliding door open to address another. “You may enter.”

From the corner of his eye, Fai could see a tall figure come through the doorway, but he made no move to address or even look up at his lover. The ninja sat tentatively on the side of the bed—almost delicately—as if he were afraid to jostle the blonde. The silence that followed was neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but rather a peaceful coexistence between the two as they each minded the other’s space, waiting to see who would be the first to speak.

At last, the mage decided it was time.

“How’s Syaoran-kun?”

“Doing well. His leg will take a bit longer to heal, but so will your throat.”

Fai reached his right hand up to the bandages once more, only to find it caught within the tender grasp of the ninja’s long fingers instead. From the way Kurogane was acting, Fai could tell that Syaoran wasn’t ‘doing well.’ Likely, he was having just as hard of a time as Fai was coming to terms with what had happened, and with the fact that they had once again brought calamity upon a world when they had only been trying to help. Kurogane, too, seemed to be at war with himself, his eyes clouded in something akin to regret.

“The shop owner… Watanuki… He filled us in on what happened. Fai, I—I’m so sorry-”

“You don’t have to explain yourself, Kurogane,” Fai stated, curling his fingers around the ninja’s. “Just tell me this: Are you the one who made the wish?”

Kurogane was taken aback, then shook his head.

“No.”

“Then that’s that, I suppose,” Fai stated, staring straight ahead of him.

It wasn’t, though, and Fai knew it just as well as Kurogane did.

Together they both sat there, hand-in-hand, existing in each other’s presence, yet at the same time completely unaware of it as they both sifted through their own separate thoughts.

“I’m sorry, Kurogane,” Fai finally whispered. “Here we are, finally alone with one another in a world where we can truly rest, but I’m afraid I just… I don’t think I’m in the mood for company at the moment.”

Considerate of the mage’s request for space, the ninja removed his hands from his lover’s, hoping that his eyes conveyed all the emotion he couldn’t say—the foremost being, “ _Don’t shut me out._ ”

But the blonde didn’t even look his way. He continued to stare listlessly ahead of him, his mind likely thousands of miles away. The only thing that brought him slightly back to awareness was the feeling of a hand briefly warming his shoulder, followed by a door carefully sliding shut.

Curling onto his side, Fai did his best to block out all of the faces he’d seen every day for the past month.

Judging from the dampness he felt on his pillow, he wasn’t doing a very good job of it.


	6. Closing Notes

** Closing Notes: **

  1. Before anyone asks, yes, the creature Henrich was transformed into is heavily based off of the lore surrounding the North American Wendigo. I was looking for a mythological creature besides a vampire that I could use (since Tsubasa already has vampires), and my head immediately began weaving this tale about a creature under the control of the vampire. I took that idea and ran with it, and this story was the final result.
  2. I had originally intended for the story to be much longer, and for the readers to be more invested in the villagers. I had named all of the shops, had quite a few more characters than were in the final product, and even had romantic relationships and such going on between some of the villagers (not with the Tsubasa group, of course, but with other villagers). I was going to draw up a map of the village as well, to better understand where everything was located in relation to the forest, but decided against it when I found myself cutting out characters and village plot points to shorten the story. I wanted to keep as much as I could, but in the end I just felt that readers would be more invested if the story were mainly told from the Tsubasa group’s point of view.
  3. I did have a hug scene planned out close to the climax of the story, but this is **_a n g s t_**. No hug scenes allowed. I had to cut it.
  4. I did have a happy ending all planned out, as well, early in development, but once more this is **_A N G S T_**. What is this “happy ending” you speak of? (*turns the volume up on Evanescence to the nth degree*)



Thank you very much for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you are reading before September 18th, 2020, please feel free to vote using the official Google form of the 2020 KuroFai Olympics:

<https://forms.gle/FLNVYFdMuLfraGkKA>

**Author:** Within_Imagination

 **Team:** Angst

 **Prompt:** Mythological Creatures

 **Story Title:** What Lurks out of Sight


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